Antique Indian Miniature Painting Playing Card India

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Antique Indian Miniature Painting Playing Card India

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Sold Date: 06/18/2008
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

Up for auction we have a mid 18th century ganjifa card with a painting of a noble woman, possibly Chand Bibi, out hawking. Ganjifa is a game that originated in Persia and became popular in India as early as the 16th century. The cards were painted on Ivory, home made paper, or wood. In this case i believe it is a very had paper mache or wood.
Today ganjifa is somewhat of a lost art with very few artisans still preparing sets of cards in rule parts of India. You would be hard pressed to find someone that actually knows how to play the game. Today we play poker, which is believed to be derived from ganjifa.
This particular card is part of a set that was produced in the Deccani ( Deccan ) region of India. This is apparent by the style of the paintings that have been reproduced on it. T are seven ducks on the recto identifying this as one of the number seven cards in the deck. The female figure on the card is most likely Chand Bibi. Chand Bibi ( 1550 -1599 ), also known as Chand Khatun or Chand Sultana , was an Indian Muslim woman warrior. She acted as the Regent of Bijapur (1580-90) and Regent of Ahmednagar (1596-99) [1] . Chand Bibi is best known for defending Ahmednagar against the Mughal forces of Emperor Akbar .
Paintings of Chand Bibi are very popular in the Deccan for she was respected tremendously. She is most often depicted out hawking for this was a favorite sport of hers. She was also avid lion hunter. It is said that she once killed seven lions with seven shots in one outing.
I have included a slightly later painting of Chand Bibi that is in the British Library for your comparison. It is marked "British Library" on the lower right hand corner and is not included in this sale.
The painting measures 2 x 1.25' (sight)