Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Indian Drawings 6 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Persianate South Asian album of eighteen portraits, probably late eighteenth century.

Contents

Summary of Contents: This Persianate South Asian album preserves facing portraits mainly completed by the same painter Nahīkā Khān, along with several other unsigned examples. Most images bear captions indicating specific people and their occupations. As such, it presents something of a visual shahr-i āshūb (devastated town), a tour of a town and its inhabitants. The long gowns worn by most subjects suggests that the album probably originated in the Carnatic, during the late 18th century. The volume retains its original binding, with a prominent unidentified monogram ‘H’ on the left cover exterior.
1b
Title: Dervish Wearing a Patched Cloak.
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

117 × 107 mm. 159 × 89 mm.

Numbered ‘15’ in Hindu-Arabic numerals at top-right, a dark blue patch at top appears an added to extend the height to conform with the other works in the album.

2a
Title: Unidentified Deccan nobleman.
Artist: Anonymous
Language(s): Persian

180 × 108 mm. 160 × 88 mm.

The turban and long jāmah gown both suggest a Deccani association for the unidentified subject of this portrait.

3b
Title: Chānd Khān
Artist: Nahīkā Khān
Language(s): Persian

178 × 107 mm. 157 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘چاند خان شبیه بردار؛ عمل نہیکا خان’
‘Chānd Khān shabīh-i bardār (Likeness taken of Chānd Khān); ‘Amal-i Nahīkā Khān (Work of Nahīkā Khān)’.

4a
Title: Servant Salmān Khān
Artist: Nahīkā Khān
Language(s): Persian

168 × 106 mm. 160 × 88 mm.

While partly cut off at the margin, the caption possibly reads:
‘سلمان خان خدمتگار؛ عمل نہیکا خان’
‘Salmān Khān Khidmatgār (Servant Salman Khān);‘Amal-i Nahīkā Khān (Work of Nahīkā Khān)’.

5b
Title: Unidentified man with a deformed right hand.
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

178 × 108 mm. 160 × 88 mm.

The trimmed caption leaves only the word kār or gār, perhaps in khidmatgār (servant).

6a
Title: Chūrī bardār
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

178 × 106 mm. 159 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘چوڙي بردار ’
chūrī bardār’, which refers to the distinctly pleated forearms of his jāmah in a manner that resembles bangles.

7b
Title: Jamā‘dār
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

178 × 108 mm. 160 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘جمااعدار ’
Jamā‘dār (Troop Leader)’.

8a
Title: Unidentified nobleman
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

175 × 105 mm. 158 × 88 mm.

9b
Title: Palanquin-bearer known as Bahirā
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

178 × 108 mm. 160 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘کہرا عرف بہرا ’
Kahrā ‘araf Bahirā (Palanquin-bearer known as Bahirā ['Deaf'])’.

10a
Title: Parasol-holder
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

175 × 105 mm. 158 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘چہاتر بردار ’
Ch'hātir bardār (Parasol-holder)’.

11b
Title: Munshī Amīn al-Dīn
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

178 × 108 mm. 161 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘منشی امین الدین ’
Munshī Amīn al-Dīn’.

12a
Title: Sūshar bardār
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

180 × 108 mm. 160 × 90 mm.

Caption:
‘سوشر بردار ’
Sūshar bardār’.

13b
Title: Unidentified man leans on a staff
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

175 × 108 mm. 156 × 90 mm.

14a
Title: East India Company Footsoldier
Artist: [Nahīkā Khān, unsigned]
Language(s): Persian

178 × 108 mm. 160 × 88 mm.

Partial caption probably reads:
‘ پیاده کمپننی’
Pīyādah Kumpan'nī (Company Footsoldier)’.

15b
Title: Annunciation to the Madonna
Artist: Anonymous
Language(s): Persian

96 × 94 mm. 74 × 69 mm. ~26 mm. diam.

Central composition pasted onto the underlying support.

16a
Title: An East India Company Sepoy
Artist: Anonymous
Language(s): Persian

178 × 108 mm. 158 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘سپاهی کمپننی’
Sipāhī Kumpan'nī (A Company Sepoy)’.

17b
Title: An elderly Shāh Jahān
Artist: Nahīkā Khān
Language(s): Persian

168 × 106 mm. 160 × 88 mm.

Caption:
‘شبیه شاهجهان بادشاه عمل نہیکا خان’
‘Shabīh-i Shāh Jahān Bādshāh (Likeness of Shāh Jahān Bādshāh);‘Amal-i Nahīkā Khān (Work of Nahīkā Khān)’.

18a
Title: An amourous couple
Artist: Anonymous
Language(s): Persian

125 × 105 mm. 97 × 73 mm.

Central oval pasted onto the underlying support.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: All leaves prepared and mounted handmade papers manufactured in the Indian subcontinent.
Extent: 18 folios, 8 flyleaves (ff. iv + 18 + iv).
Dimensions (leaf): 338 × 228 mm.
Foliation:

Collation

Undetermined

Condition

In good condition.

Binding

Probably originally bound in the Indian subcontinent soon after completion, then subsequently restored in Britain, possibly for Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), given similar endpapers found in other albums.

Individual folios attached with white linen strips to form paired binions, with thin-weight wove interleaving adhered to the right sides of the gutter margins of paintings on the b sides. ِEndpapers of heavy-weight, heavily flocked, European machine-manufactured blue paper added as endpapers to the beginning and end. Edges trimmed, with dark blue front-bead decorative endbands sewn at head and tail. Boards originally covered in full claret-coloured goatskin leather, flush cut with the edges, with defined joints, but without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Interior doublures lined with the same leather as the exterior. Spine subsequently replaced over a hollow tube, with board edges hemmed, all in similar claret-coloured goatskin leather, with interior hinges of the same.

Boards decorated with central scalloped mandorlas, pendants, and cornerpieces featuring palmette scrollwork designs blocked in gold. Internal decoration connected with single vertical lines, and embellished with surrounding flourishes. Interior board margins ruled with gold single lines and perpendicular trifoliate flourishes, while double gold ruled lines connect the central decoration. Spine bears a partly legible handritten paper label:
‘مرقع تصویر هیژده ورق’, while the right board exterior bears a prominent letter ‘H’ at top.

343 × 235 × 28 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition with headcaps missing, endbands exposed, with spine and corners abraded.

History

Origin: Completed in the Indian subcontinent; undated, but probably undated, but probably late 18th century CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, scholarNathaniel Bland (1803–1865) acquired it from an unidentified source for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead.

After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in June, 1866, paid in two instalments of £450 and £400, and then moved to Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.

Record Sources

Bibliographical description based on a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s.

Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2025 with reference to the volume in hand.

Availability

To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.

Bibliography

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Persian Heritage Foundation


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