MUGHAL DIGNITARY  

Mughal dignitary

India, first half of the 19th century

Watercolours on paper

A. 19 x L. 11.4 cm

Origins and history: work acquired in 1999 from Afonso Pereira da Silva, an agronomist and collector of historical works. This album was inherited from an uncle – Mário Carmona, whose ex libris is found on reverse of the cover – who purchased it in London. The album also contains the ex libris of Queen Victoria.

Inv. No. FO/0505-T

Watercolours on paper, part of a set of nineteen paintings.

Depicting a high ranking Mughal dignitary given that the type of costume on display was that used in court and features characteristics appropriate to the individual’s status. He wears a jama (?) – a long and rounded dress buttoned down the right hand side –, white without any decorative motifs or embellishments with its pleats highlighted in grey and brown brush strokes to simulate a shadow effect. At the waist, a brightly coloured and decorated belt, with hanging ends, holds a dagger in place while the right hand grasps a staff. Around the neck and shoulders are two necklaces of precious stones with a ring on the small finger on the left hand. The appearance is completed by some tight trousers in a very rich and ornamented cloth, richly adorned sandals and a turban in a cloth similar to the belt and studded with jewels. This type of representation forms part of a long tradition of portraits exchanged between Europe and India (highly similar to coeval portraits of the courts of Jahangir [1569-1627] and Shah Jahan [1592-1666]) and continued through the well known painting albums prepared as gifts for foreign visitors and that would include portrayals of kings, queens, princes, princesses, Safavid and Mughal courtesans as well as those from the sultanates of Deccan, along with scenes from daily life or images of Hindu gods.

The watercolours making up this set of nineteen paintings present common formal characteristics – such as the placing of the figures and/or scenes over a rectangular shape that is defined to a greater or lesser extent (sometimes merely shaded while on other occasions a floor or carpet or a natural view portrayed in contrasting levels of detail), the lack of natural or architectural backgrounds, the merely typological description, without any individualised history or characterisation – with very diverse subject figures. That these watercolours were once collated in an album and given the diversity of the themes dealt with, there is a suggestion that the pictures were once part of much broader output produced within the British context and acquired individually probably out of a question of taste or identification with the daily scenes. There were various British artists who dedicated themselves to recording the “types”, the “exotic”, the landscapes, fauna and flora, the monuments and cities they encountered during their stays in India. In addition to official commissions, commonly known as the Company School, some artists remained particularly associated with this form of representation and choice of motifs. These watercolours are similar in style to those collected by Frederic Shoberl (1775-1853) and reproduced in engravings published in the early decades of 19th century Europe, for example, the Hindoostan volume of the World in Miniature series published in London by Ackermann in 1822.