Magic of miniatures

How a US art scholar is helping lead a revival of interest in Indian miniatures through books and exhibitions

- FAIZAL KHAN

INTHE BEGINNING of winter in London last year, a tiny Indian painting from the 16th century (29.8 cm in height and 18.6 cm in width) was sold for a whopping $13.6 million (about ₹120 crore then), creating ripples in the Indian art market.

A Family of Cheetahs in a Rocky Landscape, the painting by Basawan, an artist in the court of Mughal emperor Akbar, was part of an auction of exceptional paintings from the personal collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan by Christie's in October last year.

The auction, which also featured an 18th-century Kotah painting by Shaykh Taju, an artist in the court of Maharao Umed Singh, which fetched $6.7 million (about ₹59 crore), and a 17th-century painting, A Prince Hawking by Mughal painter Muhammad Ali, which was sold for $5.2 million (about ₹46 crore), represented the revival of Indian miniatures in the country's art market. Two months later, the buzz is refusing to die. "Indian collectors, who, after ignoring and downplaying the importance of historical Indian art for many years, are all of a sudden interested, and are shopping not only in India, but in international auctions," says American art scholar Debra Diamond, the curator of South Asian and Southeast Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, US. "There is a great deal of interest among buyers in the Gulf as well for Mughal paintings," adds Diamond, who was a speaker at the recent Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).

Curiosity for classical