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A Royal Mughal Horse with Three Grooms, c. 1590

Exhibited by Kent Antiques Limited

Material Gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on paper.

Dimensions 13 x 19 cm; 15.5 x 21.3 cm

Place of Creation Mughal Empire

Status Vetted

About the Work

A ROYAL MUGHAL HORSE WITH THREE GROOMS

Attributed to an Artist Working in the Imperial Mughal Atelier During the Reign of Emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605)

Gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on paper. Royal grooms working in a palace stable, two grooms taking the hoof of a brown stallion and fitting a horseshoe as another groom holds the horse's reins.

The value and majesty of the steed has never been underestimated throughout the centuries and across continents with horses often depicted by artists in portraits, battles scenes and those of everyday life such as grooms working in palace stables. Grooms, like mahouts riding elephants, were a vital part of palace life in India.

Akbar's artists at the Mughal studio were highly accomplished at capturing the strong, close relationship between the master and their horse and the trust shared between them. Continuing and contributing to a long tradition that remains today.

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Provenance

From a Prestigious European Private Collection.

Literature

For further references and comparisons please see:
E. Binney, The Mughal and Deccani Schools: Indian Miniature Paintings from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd., Portland, 1973, no. 49.
M.C. Beach, The Imperial Image: Paintings For The Mughal Court, Washington, D.C., 1981, pp. 215, 217, 219, 222-223.
Drawings from the Pan Asian Collection, Sotheby's London, 20 June, 1983, lot 66.
A. Okada, Imperial Mughal Painters, Paris, 1992, p.66, no. 63.
H. Hodgkin and T. McInerney, Indian Drawing Exhibition Catalogue, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1983, no.19.
D. Alexander (ed.) Furisiyya, Vol. II, Riyadh, 1996, p.202, no. 168.
S.R. Canby, Princes, Poets and Palandins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, London, 1998, no.86.
The Sven Gahlin Collection, Sotheby's London, 6 October, 2015, lot 14.
The Khosrovani-Diba Collection, Sotheby's London, 2016, lot 10.