gouache with gold on paper, mounted with borders of gold-decorated cream paper with coloured inserts, reverse with a page of shikasteh script in black ink on cream paper, inner border band of green floral motifs on cloth, outer border of pink paper with gold foliate scrolls

Collection of Paul Garnier, Paris, before 1916.
Hotel Drouot auction, Paris, 18-23 December 1916, Collection Paul Garnier, lot 280.
G.J. Demotte, Paris, 1918.
Collection of Monsieur Millon, since 1918.
Private collection, Europe.

T.V.Grek and L.T. Tyuzalyan, Indiiyskie miniatyuri XVI-XVIII, Moscow, 1971, pl.11.

In overall good condition, minor discoloration and small areas of retouching, minor flaking, as viewed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This scene of two scholars in a landscape is painted in a style that can be associated with Kashmir in the mid-seventeenth century. The generally Mughal idiom here has a crispness and intensity of colour that sets it apart from mainstream Mughal work of the period. Furthermore, the unusual landscape, with the powerful visual anchor of the tall tree at left, the field of tufty grass receding in a deep plane, the distinctive distant mountainous landscape with ridges of pine trees, and the dramatic gold and orange sky, mark it out as a Kashmiri work. A close comparison is in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (see Leach 1995, vol.II, no.9.664, col. Pl.131), an illustration from a Yusuf va Zulaykha cycle produced in Kashmir, probably in Srinagar, around 1650. One of the interesting features of the present work and Chester Beatty miniature mentioned above is that they so clearly depict the local landscape around Srinagar in the valleys of the Himalayas, rather than a generalised and stylised Mughal landscape. Other miniatures that also feature elements of this distinctive landscape are a scene of Yusuf bathing in the Nile, from the same Chester Beatty Yusuf va Zulaykha cycle (see Leach 1995, vol.II, no.9.663, p.937) and a scene of scholars in discussion by a mountainous waterfall, which also shares a figural style with the present work (see Canby 1998, no.113, pp.151-2).

One of the few artists known to be working in Kashmir at the time was Muhammad Nadir Samarqandi, with whose style this work generally accords. However, the faces of the two scholars here are slightly more mainstream Mughal in style, whereas Muhammad Nadir Samarqandi’s faces usually have a more pronounced Persianate character, with narrower, slanting eyes (see, e.g. Leach 1995, vol.II, nos.9.663, 9.664, 9.665 and 9.668, 9.669, col. pls. 131-133, pp. 935-941; see also Falk and Archer 1981, no.90, p.405; sale in these rooms, 16 October 1996, lot 82).