Among the twenty so-called Hamilton-Beckford albums purchased by the Prussian state for the Berlin museums in October 1882,1 five albums contain inventory inscriptions and seal impressions, which allow the identification of some of their former owners. Three albums in the present list (I. 4591, I. 4592, and I 5001) appear to have belonged to the Indian historian and diplomatic broker Ghulam Husayn Khan (1727/1728âc. 1780)2 before they entered the library of the Scottish surgeon and interpreter Archibald Swinton (1731â1804), who lived in India from 1752 to 1766. Swintonâs library was auctioned off at Christieâs six years after his death in 1810. Through this sale, a total of eight Indian muraqqaÊ¿s entered the collection of the English novelist William Beckford (1760â1844).3 Upon his death in 1844, Beckfordâs library was bequeathed to his daughter Susan Euphemia (1786â1859), the wife of Alexander, tenth Duke of Hamilton (1767â1852).4 The Berlin museums were able to acquire the eight Swinton albums as part of the Hamilton library when it was sold in 1882, along with I. 4600, a calligraphic album of unknown provenance (the fifth album in our list). It bears an inventory inscription crediting Jahangir Begâa hitherto unidentified collectorâas its patron.
1 I. 4589, fol. 45r (Swintonâs TusveerÄn 2; European pagination, 46 folios) (fig. A.1)
This is the only one of the eight Swinton albums that was undoubtably assembled for Swinton himself since it contains a dedication to him in the form of a calligraphic composition in shikasta-yi nastaÊ¿lÄ«q on fol. 45r.5 The text can be translated as follows: âHe [i.e., God]. Forty-eight leaves. Collection of albums [i.e., album pages] of paintings of sultans, khans, shaykhs, monks and lovely-faced ones of the [various] realms. Mister Archibald Swinton Rustam Jang Bahadur. Completed.â (Huwa chihil u hasht varaq majmÅ«Ê¿a-yi muraqqaÊ¿Ät-i taá¹£ÄvÄ«r-i salÄá¹Ä«n u khavÄnÄ«n u mashÄyikhÄn u rÄhibÄn u khÅ«brÅ«yÄn al-mamÄlik Mistar ArjibÄld SvÄ«ntun Rustam Jang BahÄdur h).
Figure A.1
Page from an album assembled for Archibald Swinton in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I. 4589, fol. 45r
When the album entered the collections of the Berlin museums in 1882, however, it only contained forty-six leaves (i.e. folios).6 In the winter of 1929/30, another twelve folios were cut from the album with a razor blade by an assistant curator of the âIslamic departmentâ (the future Museum für Islamische Kunst), which was founded in 1904 as part of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Berlin.7
Figure A.2
Page from an album assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I. 4591, fol. 25v
2 I. 4591, fol. 25v (Swintonâs TusveerÄn 7; European pagination, 25 folios)8 (figs. A.2âA.3)
jarÄ«da-yi hafdah varaq ba-tÄrÄ«kh-i hafdahum-i shahr-i á¹£afar sana 1176 HijrÄ« ba-shumÄr Ämad h (âalbum of seventeen leaves, counted on the seventeenth of the month Safar, Hijri year 1176 [7 September 1762].Completed.â)9 (fig. A.3)
Figure A.4
Page from an album assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I. 4591, fol. 24v
Figure A.6
Detail from the final folio of Lord Berwickâs Album, assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century, containing an inventory inscription dated 17 Safar 1176 and Ghulam Husayn Khanâs seal impression (1.5â¯Ãâ¯2.2â¯cm) dated 1155 (1742/43)
London, Sir John Soaneâs Museum, Volume 144, fol. 30v
3 I. 4591, fol. 24v (figs. A.4âA.5)
Figure A.7
Page from an album assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I. 4591, fol. 12r
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seal impression: |
GhulÄm Ḥusayn-KhÄn 1155 (1742/43) (figs. 4â5) |
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size: 1.3â¯Ãâ¯2.0â¯cm |
The same seal impression (less smudged) can be found on Lord Berwickâs Album (fig. A.6). Another slightly smaller seal (1.3â¯Ãâ¯1.8â¯cm) by Ghulam Husayn Khan is found on fol. 29v of I 5001 (fig. A.15). It bears an earlier date (1154 [1741/42]).
4 I. 4591, fol. 12r (figs. A.7âA.8)
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seal impression (left): |
Bayram KhÄn ḤusaynÄ«10 (fig. A.8) size: 1.0â¯Ãâ¯1.2â¯cm |
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seal impression (right): |
Bayram KhÄn BahÄdur MÄ«r-MÄ«rÄn 1168 aḥad (1754/55, regnal year 1 of Ê¿Alamgir II [r. 1754â1759]) (fig. A.8) size: 0.9â¯Ãâ¯1.1â¯cm |
The impressions of the same two seals of Bayram Khan appear on folios 10r, 11v, 12r, 13v, 14r, 15v of the same album I. 4591. Both seal impressions also appear in the album MS. Douce Or. b. 1 on fol. 1r showing a drawing of Mary with Child after a European print on its reverse.11
Bayram Khan Bahadur12 was a grandson of Aurangzebâs (r. 1658â1707) paymaster Mir Bakhshi Ruhullah Khan (d. 1691/92). He was in the service of Ghaseti Begum (d. 1760), widow of Shahamat Jang, the Naʾib Nazim of Dhaka (d. 1755),13 and also accompanied the army of Ê¿Ali Gawhar (the future Shah Ê¿Alam II, r. 1760â1806) that marched on Bihar and Bengal in 1759. Ghulam Husayn Khan records that he met Bayram Khan in Benares in the course of this campaign.14
5 I. 4592, fol. 1r (Swintonâs TusveerÄn 9; European pagination, 22 folios)15 (figs. A.9âA.10)
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top mid: |
ba-tÄrÄ«kh-i hafdahum-i shahr-i á¹£afar sana 1176 HijrÄ« bÄ«st u du varaq ba- |
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shumÄr Ämad h (âOn the seventeenth of the month Safar, Hijri year 1176 [7 September 1762] twenty-two leaves were counted. Completed.â) (fig. A.10) |
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top left: |
bÄ«st u du varaq (âtwenty-two leavesâ) |
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22 (in raqam / siyÄq) (fig. A.10) |
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two seal impressions: |
ArchÄ«bÄld SvÄ«ntun Rustam Jang BahÄdur 1174, 2 (1760/61, regnal year 2 of Ê¿Alam II [r. 1760â1806]) (fig. A.10) |
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size (each): 2.o à 2.5â¯cm |
Rotas (in Swintonâs hand?)16 (fig. A.10)
Morukkaêh 22 Leaves (in Swintonâs hand?) (fig. A.10)
6 I. 4592, fol. 22v (figs. A.11âA.12)
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top mid: |
ba-bÄr-i amvÄl-i GhulÄm Ḥusayn KhÄn (âby way of the property of Ghulam Husayn Khanâ)17 |
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22 (in raqam / siyÄq) varaq (â22 leavesâ) (fig. A.12) |
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seal impression: |
ArchÄ«bÄld SvÄ«ntun Rustam Jang BahÄdur 1174, 2 (1760/61, regnal year 2 of Ê¿Alam II [r. 1760â1806]) (fig. A.12) |
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size: 1.9â¯Ãâ¯2.4â¯cm |
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below: |
Morukkaêh 22 Leaves Vol: 6th (in Swintonâs hand?) (fig. A.12) |
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mid left: |
Rotas (in Swintonâs hand?) (fig. A.12) |
71 I 5001, fol. 29v (Swintonâs TusveerÄn 3, European pagination, 29 folios)18 (figs. A.13âA.15)
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top: |
ba-tÄrÄ«kh-i hafdahum-i shahr-i á¹£afar sana 1176 HijrÄ« sÄ« u yak varaq |
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ba-shumÄr Ämad h (âOn the seventeenth of the month Safar, Hijri year 1176 [7 September 1762] thirty-one leaves were counted. Completed.â) (fig. A.14) |
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mid left: |
qiá¹Ê¿Ät-i Ä«n muraqqaÊ¿ sÄ« u yak varaq ast (âThe [number of] calligraphic specimens of this muraqqaÊ¿ is thirty-one folios.â)19 (fig. A.15) |
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seal impression: |
GhulÄm Ḥusayn KhÄn 1154 (1741/42)20 (fig. A.15) size: 1.3â¯Ãâ¯1.8â¯cm |
Figure A.9
Page from an album assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I. 4592, fol. 1r
8 I 5001, last flyleaf21 (figs. A.16âA.17)
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top: |
ba-bÄr-i amvÄl-i ghulÄm ḥusayn khÄn (âBy way of the property of Ghulam Husayn Khanâ) (fig. A.17) |
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seal impression: |
ArchÄ«bÄld SvÄ«ntun Rustam Jang BahÄdur 1174 (1760/61), 2 (1760/61, regnal year 2 of Ê¿Alam II [r. 1760â1806]) (fig. A.17) |
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size: 2.0â¯Ãâ¯2.6â¯cm |
Rotas (in Swintonâs hand?)
Morukkaêh 1765â30 Leaves - 2 = 289 Vol. 7th 3rd (in Swintonâs hand?) (fig. A.17)
Figure A.11
Page from an album assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I. 4592, fol. 22v
Figure A.13
Page from a calligraphy album assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, I 5001, fol. 29v
Figure A.14
I 5001, fol. 29v, detail of one inventory note
Figure A.15
I 5001, fol. 29v, detail of another inventory note and seal impression
9 I. 4600, fol. 26v (unclear provenance; European pagination, 26 folios)22 (figs. A.18âA.19)
Figure A.16
Page from a calligraphy album assembled in India, probably Bengal, mid-eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, I 5001, final flyleaf
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top left: |
muraqqaÊ¿-i khuá¹Å«á¹-i nasq [sic] az khaá¹á¹-i Å«stÄdÄn-i sÄbiq u ḥÄl ki dar ayyÄm-i bÅ«dan-i JahÄngÄ«r Beg ba-tajvÄ«z-i khwud az sÄbiqÄn az sar-i naw durust gardÄnÄ«d[a]-ast h |
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(âAlbum of naskh [misspelled nasq] calligraphy from the hand of past and present masters that was assembled anew in the time of Jahangir Beg through his own selection from [albums] of prior [owners?]â.) |
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F [5 in raqam / siyÄq?] varaq-i duyum [duvvum] (âsecond folioâ)23 (fig. A.19) |
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to the right: |
muraqqaÊ¿-i khuá¹Å«á¹-i duvvum bÄ«st u shish varaq (âsecond album of calligraphiesâtwenty-six leavesâ) (fig. A.19) |
This album could be one of the two calligraphy albums sold in Beckfordâs Sotheby sale of 1817 (and later possibly rebought by Beckford so that it eventually became part of the Hamilton collection).24
Figure A.18
Page from a calligraphy album assembled in India, early eighteenth century
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst, I. 4600, fol. 26v
Figure A.19
I. 4600, fol. 26v, detail of the inventory inscription
Jahangir Beg who is mentioned as the patron of the album in the inscription of fol. 26v has not been identified yet. It would be tempting to identify him as Jahangir Beg aka Jan Sipar Khan, an officer under Jahangir (r. 1605â1627) who died early in the reign of Shah Jahan, but the number of pieces in the album that postdate him make this identification unlikely.25 While the album indeed includes pieces with attributions to earlier masters such as Yaqut al-MustaÊ¿simi (fol. 1v) and the Timurid calligrapher Ê¿Abdullah Tabbakh (fol. 7v), as well as four pieces dated to the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century (fol. 24r, signed by the Safavid calligrapher Ê¿Abd al-Baqi al-Tabrizi and dated 1034 [1624/5]; fol. 13r dated 982 [1574/75]; fol. 13v, signed âDarvish Haydar Ê¿Ali b. Muhammad Muradâ and dated 1034 [1624/25]; fol. 18r, signed âHaji Maqsud al-Tabriziâ and dated 14 Shawwal 998 [16 August 1590]), many folios in the album are of a later date. A coherent group of pieces of naskh calligraphy (I. 4600, fols. 4râ7r and 9vâ11r) include folios signed by a certain Ê¿Abdullah (fols. 6r, 9v, 10r, 11r) as well as a number of leaves (5v, 6r, 9v, 10v, 11r) that are dated 1094 (1682/83).26 A single page of various specimens (fol. 1v) includes three pieces in shikasta-taÊ¿lÄ«q that are attributed to the famous calligrapher Dirayat Khan, whose career post-dated the life of Jan Sipar Khan.27 A folio in thuluth and naskh (fol. 17r) bears an attribution to Yaqut Raqam Khan, a calligrapher active at the court of Bahadur Shah I (r. 1707â1712),28 while two leaves in thuluth and naskh (fols. 12v, 22r) are both signed by a certain Muhammad Taqi and dated 1134 (1721/22).29
Note to readers: The logograph appearing in Figures A.1, A.3, A.10, A.14, and A.19 resembling the letter hÄʾ marks the end of a text and may be shorthand for the Arabic verb intahÄ (it was completed) or noun intihÄʾ (completion). A similar logograph also used at the end of texts represents the word faqaá¹ meaning âonlyâ or ânothing moreâ.30
Volkmar Enderlein, âZur Geschichte der indischen Sammelalben im Berliner Islamischen Museumâ, in Indische Albumblätter: Miniaturen und Kalligraphien aus der Zeit der Moghul-Kaiser, ed. Regina Hickmann (Leipzig and Weimar: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1979), pp. 5â9; Christoph Rauch, ââ¯âIm Wettkampfe mit den Bibliotheken anderer Nationenâ: Der Erwerb arabischer Handschriftensammlungen an der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin zwischen 1850 und 1900â, SammlerâBibliothekareâForscher: Zur Geschichte der orientalischen Sammlungen an der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, ed. Sabine Mangold-Will, Christoph Rauch, and Siegfried Schmitt (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2022), pp. 87â150, here pp. 122â123.
A contemporary portrait of Ghulam Husayn Khan (inscribed in a cartouche placed in the gold-sprinkled margin above the painting as taá¹£vÄ«r-i GhulÄm Ḥusayn KhÄn BahÄdur) is preserved on a page from an album once owned by Sir Elijah Impey, now housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Douce Or. a. 3, fol. 16r (reproduced in Andrew Topsfield, Paintings from Mughal India [Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2008], cat.no. 61;
The eight Swinton albums are now housed in the Museum für Islamische Kunst (I. 4589â4592) and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst (I 5001â5004) in Berlin.
For the trajectory of the eight Swinton albums through various collections and sales, before they entered the Berlin museums, see Lucian Harris, âArchibald Swinton: A New Source for Albums of Indian Miniatures in William Beckfordâs Collectionâ, The Burlington Magazine 143/1179 (2001), pp. 360â366.
See also Kwiatkowskiâs article in the present volume.
The removal of two folios already occurred a hundred years before, in 1782, as is evident from the information written on folio 46v (â48 leaves-2 framedâ) and on the flyleaf facing folio 46v (the final page in todayâs European pagination) reading â46 leaves May 1782â, â45 leaves May 1826 RBâ, and â46 leaves Aug. 1828 GCâ. See also Harris, âArchibald Swintonâ, p. 365 (note 49) who has assumed that in May 1782, when Swintonâs albums were kept in his library at Kimmerghame, Berwickshire, a number of leaves were removed from his albums for framing.
See Enderlein, âZur Geschichte der indischen Sammelalben im Berliner Islamischen Museumâ, p. 8. According to the papers preserved in the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, a total of thirty-two folios were stolen from the Berlin albums. The list of their contents was presumably destroyed by the art historian Hermann Goetz (1898â1976), at that time assistant curator in the âIslamic departmentâ (Islamische Abteilung), founded in 1904 as part of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Berlin. A handwritten document of c. 1930 (possibly by Friedrich Sarre [1865â1945], the first director of the department until 1931) indicates that Goetz had removed twelve folios from I. 4589 (fols. 5, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27 and 43). He cut all the margins from the thirty-two folios, split some of them into two pages, and then tried to sell them on the German art market. After the theft was discovered about half a year later, between June and September 1930, ten âminiaturesâ from the Berlin albums were found in the antiquarian shop H. Tiedemann (Berlin), another eight in the department store Wertheim (Leipziger Platz, Berlin), and another three were found by the police department (Polizeipräsidium) between late August and September (it remains unclear where). These twenty-one âminiaturesâ (some of which still bear the original calligraphic pieces [Schriftproben] on the reverse) were restored by Wertheim and the police department to the âIslamic departmentâ, so that album I. 4589 today only contains forty-four folios, including seventeen cropped pages (ten miniatures and seven calligraphic compositions); another seven pages (two entire folios and three verso calligraphic pieces) are still missing. Although Goetz confessed to the theft, he was not prosecuted. In 1939, he became the director of the Baroda Museum and Picture Library in Gujarat before reaching the height of his career in 1961, when he was appointed professor at the Südasien-Institut at Heidelberg University.
Three folios were stolen from this album (fols. 16, 22 and 23), see note 7 above; folio 23 and the recto of folio 22 are still missing.
Very similar inventory notesâprobably in the same handâare found on I. 4592, fol. 1r (fig. A.10); I 5001, fol. 29v (fig. A.14); and the so-called Lord Berwickâs Album in the Sir John Soaneâs Museum in London (Vol. 144; fig. A.6). They all bear the same date of 17 Safar 1176 (7 September 1762). Since all the albums bearing these inventory notes also have a connection to Ghulam Husayn Khan, either in the form of his seal impression or as an inscription recording his prior ownership, one might suggest that these notes were written by him with a view to selling or gifting the albums soon after.
The same seal also appears on the versos of two Mughal bust portraits showing a lady wearing a turban and an idealised youth from the Swinton collection at Kimmerghame, sold in 2022 by Franscesca Galloway (ed.), Court, Epic, Spirit: Indian Art 15thâ19th century (London: Francesca Galloway, 2022), cat.nos. 9 and 10, now housed in Minneapolis Institute of Art (2021.93.1 and 2021.93.2); see also Jerry Lostyâs article in the present volume.
Two inscribed portraits of Bayram Khan have survived: One is in the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (AKM458;
Ghulam Husain Salim, The Riyááºu-s-Saláá¹Ãn: A History of Bengal, trans. Maulavi Abdus Salam (Calcutta: The Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1902), p. 363.
Ghulam Husain Khan Tabatabai, Sëir Mutaqherin: Or Review of Modern Times, vol. 2 (Calcutta and Madras: Cambray & Co., 1902), pp. 301, 323.
All folios of this album have been preserved.
Rotas probably refers to Rohtasgarh Fort in Bihar, which according to Lucian Harris (Harris, âArchibald Swintonâ, p. 365) was close to Ghulam Husaynâs jÄgÄ«r in the village of Husainabad.
The same inscription in the same hand is written on the final flyleaf of I 5001 next to folio 29.
All folios of this album have been preserved.
Today the album contains only twenty-nine folios.
John Seyller (email communication of 1 December 2021) and Manijeh Bayani (email communication of 23 May 2023) read this date. Note the spelling of Ḥusayn KhÄn as two words here in contrast to the spelling as one word on the seal dated 1155 (1742/43) in I. 4591, fol. 24v and Lord Berwickâs Album (vol. 144), fol. 30v (figs. A.5 and A.6). This, and the insufficient print quality of the seal of 1154, may have prompted Ghulam Husayn Khan to have a new seal manufactured.
The album has been inventoried according to European pagination, so that the final flyleaf would have in fact been the opening flyleaf according to Persian pagination.
All folios of this album have been preserved.
Manijeh Bayani assisted in the reading of this inscription (email communication of 23Â May 2023).
For the 1817 sale, see Lucian Guthrie Harris, âBritish Collecting of Indian Art and Artefacts in the 18th and Early 19th Centuryâ (PhD diss., University of Sussex, 2002), p. 237: âAnother lot featured two volumes containing beautiful and rich specimens of Arabian and Persian calligraphy, by the best mastersâ. In his 2001 article, Lucian Harris associated I. 4600 with Ghulam Husayn Khan, erroneously stating that fol. 26v ârecords that it was acquired on 8th September 1762â (âArchibald Swintonâ, p. 365 and note 55).
For a portrait of Jahangir Beg aka Jan Sipar Khan of c. 1627, signed by Balchand, see
Fols. 6r, 9v, 11r are signed âÊ¿Abdullah wrote itâ (katabahu Ê¿AbdullÄh), while fol. 10r is signed âthe servant Ê¿Abdullah wrote itâ (katabahu al-Ê¿abd Ê¿AbdullÄh). Most of the leaves in this group also bear a connoisseurial note reading âwriting of Hajji Ê¿Abdullahâ (khaá¹á¹-i ḤÄjjÄ« Ê¿AbdullÄh). The attribution to Hajji Ê¿Abdullah is also found on a number of leaves in a distinct style in which lines of thuluth calligraphy are written in opposing directions (fols. 2v, 3r, 3v).
Dirayat Khanâs father, the calligrapher Kifayat Khan, was active at the court of Shah Jahan, see Ghulam Muhammad Dihlavi, The Tadhkira-i KhushnavÄ«sÄn of MawlÄnÄ GhulÄm Muhammad DihlavÄ« edited with Prefaces, Notes and Indices by M. Hidayet Husain, Bibliotheca Indica, no. 1233 (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1910), pp. 105â106.
For Yaqut Raqam Khanâs career, see Dihlavi, The Tadhkira-i KhushnavÄ«sÄn, p. 126.
Fol. 12v is signed âMuhammad Taqi b. Haji Ê¿Abdullahâ and dated with the letter combination ghayn, qÄf, lÄm and dÄl, the abjad value of which is 1134. Fol. 22r, which is signed âMuhammad Taqiâ and dated with the same combination of letters as well as the date 1134 (1721/22) in Perso-Arabic numerals, is clearly by the same scribe. Two undated leaves (fols. 16v, 20v), signed âthe servant Muhammad Taqiâ (al-Ê¿abd Muḥammad TaqÄ«) and âMuhammad Taqi b. Ê¿Abdullahâ respectively, are also likely to have been copied by the same scribe.
See Adam Gacek, Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009), p. 76.