INDIA, MUGHAL, 17TH CENTURY

Botanical studies influenced the broader arts of the Mughal court, from architectural decoration to textile design. Flowers were predominantly featured in court paintings, especially portraits, where emperors and princes often held them in their hands, adding as an elegant touch to their already well-presented appearance. The popularity of botanical culture in Mughal India was not merely a result of an appreciation of nature’s beauty; it also reflected the high value placed on botanical products and flora’s spiritual significance. Deeply rooted in Islam is the concept of paradise as a garden, an ideology that, combined with Persian influence, fuelled the Mughal obsession with building gardens. Similar to these constructions aimed at creating a heaven on earth, botanical studies conveyed a yearning for paradise while preserving their encyclopaedic nature.
Likely belonging to a now-dispersed album of botanical studies, this work depicts an iris with one blossom on top and one bud sprouting from the lower part of the stem. The blossom has purplish blue petals, naturalistically depicted with contrasts between light and dark and thin gold highlights. Yellowish-green leaves curl upwards to embrace the blossom. The landscape where the iris grows appears arid, with nine-pointed leafy plants spread across it. Compared to many botanical folios, such as an example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 2022.190), this folio presents the flower in a lively manner, showcasing its naturalism in light and dark and the way each part of the plant relates and connects. Departing from stiffness, the iris in this folio comes to life from its rigid formality.
The painting is mounted with three borders: the innermost and the middle in beige with gold floral motifs, and the outermost in indigo blue with gold flowers. Next to the flower is a stamp print, possibly suggesting the title, the artist/atelier or the owner of the album. At the top centre of the middle frame is a Persian/Ottoman Turkish inscription written in nasta’liq script, "Work of Syed Burhan." The upper left corner of this page is numbered “52.”
Similarly dated examples of studies of irises are housed at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (acc. nos. IS.48:55/A-1956 & IS.48:15/A-1956). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, also features a sketch of flowers in its Mughal collection (acc. no. 2022.192).