A Page of Birds. St. Petersburg Muraqqa

The St. Petersburg Muraqqa. Album of Indian and Persian Miniatures from the 16th through the 18th Century and Specimens of Persian Calligraphy by ‘Imād al-Ḥasanī.

15,3 × 26 cm (The birds were assembled from various sources and periods; green background with flowers and sky added in Isfahan to cover joins).

Essentially a collage, this improvised composition includes a fine and important study of the legendary, long extinct dodo (Raphus cucullatus, Linnaeus 1758), that belongs to the order Columbiformes (which includes pigeons and doves). Unfairly and inaccurately, the Dodo bird was once stereotyped as a living tragi-comedy, barely able to feed itself, and ignominiously known as the didus ineptus. This slur, based upon depictions by Roelant Savery of an overfed fat specimen held in captivity in Amsterdam in 1627, is proven wrong by Jahāngīr’s dodo bird, a characteristic specimen. The true dodo was nimble, and well adapted to its environment in Mauritius, where many of them existed.
We date the present image circa 1615, and attribute it to the renowned artist Mansur, whose studies of birds unite scientific objectivity with elegance through sensibility. Before drawing a bird or animal, Mansur apparently stalked and pondered his subject and was likely to become sentimentally attached to it.

This Folio is not only an appealing work of art, it is also important for scientific reasons. This is one of few pictures believed to have been made from direct observation. In fact, Jahāngīr’s picture is considered to be the most exact and trustworthy image. Presumably, the dodo bird lived in Jahāngīr’s private zoo. Although the study is abraided and perhaps coarsened at the edges by reworking, it is sensitively, knowingly drawn, and painted with finesse.

The bird at the top right, is a member of the pheasant family, the Western Tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus, Gray 1829). It can be attributed to Muḥammad Bāqir, the prolific Isfahani specialist in decorative manuscript illumination. Like its sister in Plate 169/Folio 78 recto, it is an undistinguished work.

The parakeet, pair of ducks, and partridges are Mughal pictures, of good quality but difficult to attribute. The author of this entry is most grateful to Dr. V. Ziswiler of the Zoologishes Museum at the University of Zurich for the invaluable information about the dodo and a member of the pheasant family.

The album of Indian and Persian miniatures, known as the St. Petersburg Muraqqa, was created by artists from the Mughal and Deccan schools of India, and Isfahan school of Iran. It consists of 98 folia decorated with miniatures on topics such as: scenes of court life, hunt and battle, royal portraits, images of saints, and species of flora and fauna. Each leaf includes specimens of Persian calligraphy by master of nastaliq style Mir ‘Iamd al-Hasani of Qazvin (1554-1615). The album was mainly assembled from works looted by Nadir Shah, during his invasion in India in 1739. It represents a unique collection of art from the 16th to 18th centuries.