Wedding Procession of Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah

Wedding Procession of Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah

In one of Deccani painting's most romantically charged visions, a sultan carries his diminutive Hindu bride in a night-time procession. The pair is thought to be Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (reigned 1580–1612) and Bhagmati, Golconda's legendary lovers. The clustered attendant figures glow against the dark ground as they carry royal umbrellas above the couple, who are seated together on a horse—a departure from Indian convention, in which a bride is typically brought to her new home in a doli, or seperate litter, after the wedding. Perhaps the cart drawn by running cows in the background was meant to carry her; certainly her female attendants ride within it while others follow on foot in the procession.

Four outstanding works have been assigned to this anonymous master who worked during the reign of 'Abdullah Qutb Shah (1626–72) and ushered in a realistic mode in Golconda painting imbued with a sense of movement and a mastery of color. They are a grand procession scene of 'Abdullah in the Dorn Album in Saint Petersburg, a painting of yogis in the Saint Petersburg Album (where a portion of the painting is attributed to his hand), a portrait of an African nobleman (cat. 129 in this volume), and the present wedding scene.[1] Reportage and documentation were among the artist's aims; thus several historical characters appearing in the Dorn Album procession scene can be identified.[2] Yet, in this work, we are perhaps seeing his imagination unleashed to evoke a scene from the past.[3]

Navina Haidar in [Haidar and Sardar 2015]

Footnotes:

1. 1. Zebrowski, Mark. Deccani Painting. London: Sotheby's; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983, pp. 183, 185 discusses this artist's oevre.

2. Ibid., p. 185.

3. Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, Sotheby's, London, 26 April 1990, pp. 18–19, lot 32. The catalog shows this painting before the restoration of its background. The author is grateful to Terence McInerney for this reference.

Terence G. McInerney, New York, and Mark Zebrowski, London (until 1990); Sotheby's, London, 26 April 1990, lot 32; Howard Hodgkin, London (1990–d. 2017); Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust, London (2017–2022; sold to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sultans of Deccan India, 1500–1700: Opulence and Fantasy," April 20–July 26, 2015.

"26th April 1990." In Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures. London, 1990. no. 32, pp. 18–19, ill.

Safrani, Shehbaz, ed. "The Deccan: A Nucleus of Culture." Marg . Golconda and Hyderabad (1992). p. 10, ill. fig. 7.

Michell, George, and Marc Zebrowski. "Art and Architecture of the Deccan Sultanates." In The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. no. 148, p. 201.

Filippi, Gian Giuseppe, ed. "Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, April 30–Aug. 3, 1997." In Indian Miniatures and Paintings from the 16th to the 19th century : The Collection of Howard Hodgkin. Milano, 1997. p. 59, no. 15.

Michell, George, and Mark Zebrowski. The Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates. The New Cambridge History of India. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. no. 148, p. 201.

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. 39, pp. 100–101, ill.

Guy, John, and Navina Haidar. Indian Skies : The Howard Hodgkin Collection of Indian Court Painting (Winter 2024). pp. 22–23, ill. fig. 24.

Haidar, Navina, and Marika Sardar. "Opulence and Fantasy." In Sultans of Deccan India 1500–1700. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015. no. 128, pp. 234–35, 237, ill.