Forge and Lynch
Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch specialise in Antiquities and Islamic and Indian art. Established in 1998 the company has sold to institutions and private collectors worldwide. They exhibit twice a year in London (Antiquities and Islamic Art) and once a year during the New York Asia Week (Indian miniature paintings). In December 2017, the company sold an important group of Iznik pottery from the collection of Sir Alan Barlow (1881-1968) to a single private collector. In recent years Indian and Islamic paintings and works of art have been sold to institutions including the British Library, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco and the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore.
Court Art from India, Persia and Turkey
The exhibition comprises a selection of about forty miniature paintings and works of art, giving a taste of court art in different media. The paintings range in date from the late sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. A fine painting from the ‘Third” Akbarnama depicts Sher Shah’s Capture of Rohtasgarh Fort in 1538 A.D., an Afghan adversary of Emperor Humayun who challenged him in gaining territory in Bengal. Ascribed to three known court artists, in palette and design it is an exceptional work. In contrast is an evocative painting by the Mewar court artist Tara, Sarup Singh at target practice in a garden, circa 1855, depicting the Udaipur ruler against a vibrant green ground.
Works of art include three Iznik polychrome tiles, circa 1575, a large 17th century Safavid blue-and-white pottery dish, two eighteenth century ‘Bidri’ huqqa bottles, and a charming bronze Nandi bull from south India. From Qajar Persia are two exceptional works: a fine silver- and gold-inlaid steel bottle similar to one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and a fine steel pen-box inscribed to one of the daughters of the great Fath Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834), Gawhar Khanum, dated 1815-16 A.D.
Catalogue available online from early October
Thursday 22 to Friday 30 October – 10am-5pm
Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd.
2 Georgian House
10 Bury Street
St. James’s, London
SW1Y 6AA
Iznik pottery tile,
Turkey, 1570-80,
Painted in underglaze blue, viridian green and bole red on a white ground, with large composite flowers and arabesques forming a spiral,
25.6 by 22 cm
A Qajar steel pen-box inscribed to Gawhar Khanum, daughter of Fath ‘Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834)
Persia, dated A.H. 1231 / 1815-16 A.D.
Of cartouche form with twin hinges at the back and a floral clasp at the front, engraved with a dense design of flowering plants, enclosing on the top a cusped panel with the name and date, cusp-ended cartouches of nastal’iq around the borders and encircling the sides, the interior with an inner band of further inscriptions interrupted by four small ink-wells with hinged lids around a central vacant cartouche-shaped recess.
25.2 by 9 by 4.2 cm.
A large Safavid blue and white pottery dish,
Persia, late seventeenth century,
Painted in cobalt blue under a transparent glaze, the field depicts a pair of adorned guardian lions supporting a trellis platform.
53.8 cm. diameter; 10.6 cm. height
Sher Khan Sur’s capture of Rohtasgarh Fort in 1538 A.D.
Leaf from the ‘Third’ Akbarnama,
Ascribed to the artists La’l, Dhanu and Khimkaran,
Mughal India, 1595-1600 A.D.
Opaque watercolour and gold on paper, laid down on card,
30.5 by 18 cm., 12 by 7 1/8 in. painting;
36 by 23.5 cm., 14 1/8 by 9 ¼ in. folio
Portrait of a Sepoy,
Indo-Portuguese, late eighteenth century,
oil on canvas,
63.3 by 49.8 cm.
William Daniell (1769-1786),
The Lalbagh Gate at Faizabad,
Watercolour on paper,
48 by 64 cm.
