Painting, Small Clive Album p. 106, a convivial gathering, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Mughal, ca. 1615-1620

Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, a convivial gathering of three princes at leisure is depicted here, but the scene has a moralistic tone as two of the figures are older men who are clearly showing disapproval of the louche ways of the youths.
The young princes are shown on a terrace in a garden scene in front of an open-sided pavilion, surrounded by attendants and musicians. The central prince sits cross-legged offering a gold cup to a prince seated on his right, while looking towards a third prince who is holding out a golden cup and saucer to him. The prince on the right has an arm round another youth who leans against him in his lap while three attendants stand behind holding offerings of a bottle, a cup and a covered tray. A young man in blue sits at the side with his arm outstretched, holding an empty cup, while a darker skinned older man tries to restrain him. Opposite on the other side a grey-bearded man holding a book with one hand looks on with disapproval while holding out his other hand in an action of dismay. A young attendant stands behind the prince on the right looking away and holding up his hand too in an action of dismay. He holds a long object covered in a red material which may be a sword, now perhaps no longer in use as the young princes give themselves up to voluptuary.
The terrace has a golden balustrade with central steps flanked by two narrow cyprus trees leading down to the garden in the foreground where there is a young man standing with a falcon on one side of a small rectangular pool with a fountain and a pair of ducks perched on its perimeter.Perhaps he is tempting the royal trio to more princely activities. To the left are two musicians seated on a low platform: one plays a zither while the other, a singer, claps his hands in time to the rhythm.
The pavilion behind this gathering shows a pale green interior with a series of rectangular niches holding small decorative objects over a crimson and green panelled dado. Another building is seen on the left hand side with a green drape pulled back from its cornice in front of which there grows a tree with dark green leaves between the two buildings.
The painting has a narrow inner border of gold lines round a dark blue frame decorated with a stylised floral scroll in gold. The main border is one of the usual forms of lily and poppies outlined in gold on an ivory ground. The outer edges of the page have strips of pale ochre paper with a pinkish-buff additional piece on the inner margin acting as a gutter for the binding of the album.

Gift of Mr. John Goelet

This belongs to the Small Clive Album of Indian paintings which is thought to have been given by Shuja ud-Daula, the Nawab of Avadh, to Lord Clive during his last visit to India in 1765-67. It contains 56 folios on which are Mughal paintings, drawings and flower studies on both sides. The binding is covered with an Indian brocade silk that may have been cut from lengths brought home by the 2nd Lord Clive, who served as Governor of Madras, 1799 to 1803. The album was sold from Powis Castle at Sotheby's sale, 16 to 18 January 1956, lot 332A.

This Mughal painting was done in about 1615-1620 and therefore dates from the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605-27). In the mid-18th century, it was mounted in an album now called the 'Small Clive Album', because of its connection with Robert Clive, and given new decorative borders. The scene is identified by Katherine Butler Schofield as a princely gathering of a kind called mehfil, in which the prince demonstrates his masculine virtue and command through the connoisseurship of pleasurable activities in a paradisical garden – on the left, the companionship of beautiful young men, intoxicating wine, edible delicacies, and both Indian and Iranian music (a singer playing tambura at the top, and a singer and a qanun player at the bottom) – on the right, a servant holds his sword, wrapped in cloth and temporarily beyond use; an elderly Sufi recites to him from a book of poetry or devotion; and a servant holds ready a peregrine falcon for hunting.

IS.48:53/B-1956