This calligraphic folio, comprised of découpé letters, floral motifs, and sinuous arabesques, is a masterful creation of two artists who have signed their work: Ali, the calligrapher and Muhammad Hasan, the paper cutter. The calligraphy reveals a saying attributed to ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad) upon freeing his slave Qanbar, which became a well-known Shi’ite phrase. Here the letters are interwoven with a simple but strong S-shaped arabesque scroll bearing blossoms.
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Credit Line:Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions, Harris Brisbane Dick, and 2020 Benefit Funds; Howard S. and Nancy Marks, Lila Acheson Wallace, and Friends of Islamic Art Gifts; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; and funds from various donors, 2022
Accession Number:2022.203
Album Page with Découpé Calligraphy
This decorative page and the page with Découpé Vase, Insects, and Birds (no. 54 in this volume), now in seperate collections, were likely mounted together, possibly in an album made for 'Adil Shah (reigned 1627–56). However, decoupage was also practiced at Golconda, as demonstrated by the Shirazi Turkmen papar cutter Murad Dhu'l Qadr, whose name is found in a calligraphic page in the so-called Millennial Album made for Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (reigned 1580–1612).[1] The two principal techniques of decoupage were both practiced in the Deccan: one in which very fine shapes are cut away and applied to another surface, as seen here, and another in which letters are cut away from a sheet of paper, which is then laid down over another. The Bijapur Archeological Museum contains two unpublished examples of this second technique.
These Deccan decoupage pages in their fineness and sensitivity surpass their stouter Ottoman and Persian cousins. This calligraphic folio provides the name of the talented artist Muhammad Hasan and his collaborator, the calligrapher 'Ali.[2] The text quotes a phrase, attributed to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad) as he freed his slave Qanbar, which became a well-known Shi'a phrase.[3] The letters are interwoven with a simple but strong S-shaped arabesque scroll bearing blossoms. The effect of the light-colored letters and tightly curling vines against an almost black ground recalls the mother-of-pearl inlay in black basalt in the Rangin Mahal (Colored Palace, fig. 64 in this volume) in Bidar and in contemporary bidri metalwork. The work of the Ottoman découpé artist Efsanci Mehmed (died 1534) and his followers, who specialized in cutout flowers and gardens, may also have been known to this artist. However, their works illustrate different types of flowers and vase shapes.[4] Another decoupage page, perhaps a practice sheet filled with images of flowers and animals, provides the name of the artist 'Yar Khan(?), who was possibly part of the same workshop (fig. 54 in this volume).
Navina Haidar in [Haidar and Sardar 2015]
Footnotes:
1. James, David. "The 'Millenial' Album of Muhammad-Quli Qutb Shah. Islamic Art 2, 1987, p. 246.
2. Originally the fourth line would have stated katabahu ibn abi talib 'ali. However, since the caligrapher is also named 'Ali, he altered the original text by shortening it and repeating the name 'Ali twice (the first one referring to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib as the composer of the text and the second to himself as its calligrapher).
3. Another folio with the same phrase can be seen; Drouot-Richelieu. Arts de l'Orient & de l'Inde. Sale cat. Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, May 28, 2014, p. 18, lot 33.
4. Atasoy, Nurhan. A Garden for the Sultan: Gardens and Flowers in the Ottoman Culture. Istanbul: Aygaz, 2002, pp. 73–86.
Inscription: Inscribed: ya qanbar kunta bi’l-ams-i li / wa sirta al-yuwma mithli / wahabtuka li-man wahaba li / katabahu ‘ali ‘ali / qati’uha muhammad hasan Translation: O Qanbar, yesterday you were mine / And today you have become like me [free] / I donate you to He who had donated you to me / Written by ‘Ali, ‘Ali / The cutter of the calligraphy is Muhammad Hasan
E. Beghian, London (by 1931); by descentto his family (until 2011); sale, Bonhams, London, 5 April 2011, lot 235; Howard Hodgkin, London (2011–d. 2017); Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust, London (2017–2022; sold to MMA)
London. Burlington House. "International Exhibition of Persian Art," January 7, 1931–February 28, 1931.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sultans of Deccan India, 1500–1700: Opulence and Fantasy," April 20–July 26, 2015.
Bonhams, London. "5 April, 2011." In Islamic and Indian Art. London, 2011. lot 235.
Topsfield, Andrew. "The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, February 2-–April 22, 2012." In Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012. no. 42, pp. 106–7, ill.
Guy, John, and Navina Haidar. Indian Skies : The Howard Hodgkin Collection of Indian Court Painting (Winter 2024). pp. 24–25, ill. fig. 27.
Haidar, Navina, and Marika Sardar. "Opulence and Fantasy." In Sultans of Deccan India 1500–1700. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015. no. 55, pp. 132–34, ill.
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