Osian's Auction Catalogue India The Passionate Detachment | February 2001

SEEDS OF MODERNISM 123 90 A.R.CHUGHTAI (1894 -1975) Sukut-I-Shab Watercolour & wash on paper, 1942-5. Signed in Urdu, l.l. 45.7 x 30.5 cm. (18 x12”) Rs. 1,400,000 – 1,500,000 $ 29,790 - 31,900 Illustrated as plate 4 in Razia Siraj-ud-Din. Chughtai’s Paintings. Lahore: Jahangir Book Club c.1946. The author’s critical annotation to the plate reads: “The pale face looking up through the soft atmosphere of the picture is intensified by the bright yellow flowers on the ground... likewise the cypress trees drawn in the middle lend symmetry and height to the picture. Unlike most of Chughtai’s paintings, there is not much decorative drawing here, the impression being more of a blend of colouring than of a marked precision of lines.” Also refer to Sufism and Beyond , Mapin 2000. The cover jacket of this book has Sukut-I-Shab as its illustration.