Portrait of Prince Daniyal and calligraphy, India, probably Deccan, 17th century Pigment and gold enhanced drawing on paper depicting the prince standing facing right, wearing an orange and green checkered turban and a white jama with gold braids and belt. He is armed with a talwar in his right hand, a katar in his belt and a rondache on his left forearm. He stands out against a background punctuated with floral bouquets. Drawing mounted on an album page with a border alternating cartouches inscribed in Persian nasta'liq and illuminated cartouches and a wide beige margin with floral decoration painted in gold. In the Persian margin, gold inscription in Persian nasta'liq giving the wrong identification of the subject as 'Abdullah Khan Uzbek. On the back, a similar composition with a quatrain copied in Persian nasta'liq in black ink in its center, arranged in two oblique cartouches flanked by illuminated spandrels. Work signed Muhammad Muhsin. Page size: 30.8 x 20.4 cm; painting size: 13.7 x 8.3 cm; calligraphy size: 15.5 x 8 cm Wetness and worm holes on the margin, some accidents and folds Provenance: Terence McInerney, New York, 1997 Daniyal Mirza (1572-1605), third son of Emperor Akbar, was appointed governor of the Deccan in 1597 and actively participated in the conquest of the region and the expansion of the Mughal Empire. Several portraits of the prince are known, such as the one in the British Museum signed by Muhammad Nadir al-Samarqandi (1920,0917,0.13.34), dated around 1605, another in the National Gallery of Canada (23557), or the one mounted in one of the Douce albums in the Bodleian Library (Douce Or.a.1, fol. 29a). Muhammad Muhsin, who signed the quatrain, may be Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri, who was part of a group of calligraphers active in Lahore in the eighteenth century. This artist and his companions are major representatives of the artistic revival in calligraphy emerging in the provinces of the Mughal Empire. A Portrait of the Prince Daniyal, India, probably Deccan, 17th century Private collection in Paris from 1975 to 2000 - first part (lots 120 to 173).