TWO PORTRAITS OF THE MUGHAL PROGENITOR TIMUR AND THE MUGHAL EMPEROR SHAH JAHAN
Delhi, Northern India, late 18th - first half 19th century

TWO PORTRAITS OF THE MUGHAL PROGENITOR TIMUR (1336 – 1405) AND THE MUGHAL EMPEROR SHAH JAHAN (r. 1628 – 58)
Delhi, Northern India, late 18th - first half 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the two vertical portraits of the enthroned rulers acting as an overt dynastic reference testifying the Mughal emperors' legitimacy to rule and their direct descent from Timur, meant to be viewed as a pair, on one side Timur seated cross-legged on a gem-studded golden throne with a caparisoned parasol holding out a crown in the direction of the second character, on the other side a Mughal Emperor, most likely Shah Jahan, kneeling on a similar throne, his head surrounded by a flaming golden nimbus, holding an encrusted sarpech (turban ornament) in his hand, looking straight ahead at his counterpart on the other page, both portraits set on a palatial terrace with lush vegetation and a cloudy blue sky in the background, mounted, glazed and framed separately, the paintings 21.5cm x 14cm, 35cm x 27cm including the frames.

The subject and allegorical style of these two portraits are of instantaneous interpretation, and they fit into a much broader pictorial repertoire purposefully programmed to boost and proclaim the supremacy of the Mughal dynasty. Timur's portrait, seated cross-legged handing over the royal crown, presents a recognisable iconography featured on a number of Mughal illustrated folios, now part of major art institutions' collections like the British Library, the Victoria & Albert Museum (acc. no. IM.8-1925), and the Royal Collection Trust (RCINS 1005025.d and 1005025.e). The painting in the V&A Museum collection is dated 1628 and attributed to Govardhan, an artist of the imperial Mughal workshop during the reigns of Jahangir (r. 1605 - 1627) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628 - 1658). It has been suggested the folio was probably commissioned to mark Shah Jahan's accession to the throne, thus the allegorical value of the crown in Timur's hands.

The greatest degree of similarity with our lots, however, is with the illuminated double-spread frontispiece from a manuscript of the Padshahnama in the Royal Collection Trust, dated ca. 1657. Timur, presented here in the same stand of the Govardhan's portrait, is handing over the crown to Shah Jahan, portrayed as an elderly man with a long white beard, indicating the passing of time. His posture and the overall composition are analogous to our portrait, the main difference being the age of the sitter, depicted in our lot as a strong middle-aged man with his beard still dark. Given the relevance the Mughals conferred to their prestigious dynastic heritage, a major argument in their assertion of political legitimacy, it is undoubted that portraits with clearly established iconographies like these would have kept on being produced and commissioned until the fall of the dynasty in 1857 (and sometimes even later), not only in the royal ateliers but also at provincial schools, becoming a standard model for painters and their apprentices.

(Quantity:2)

Dimensions: the paintings 21.5cm x 14cm, 35cm x 27cm including the frames