Source: philamuseum.org
Showing posts with label 16th Century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 16th Century. Show all posts
Mughal emperor Akbar on horseback, inspecting a wild elephant captured from a herd during a royal hunting expedition near Malwa in north central India - Mughal Painting, Circa 1586-1589
This illustration to the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicts the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) on horseback, inspecting a wild elephant captured from a herd during a royal hunting expedition near Malwa in north central India. The elephant is shown tethered to a tree to start its training process, and two trained elephants can be seen in the foreground being led away. The manuscript describes in detail the process of training a wild elephant.
The Akbarnama was commissioned by Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign. It was written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abu’l Fazl, between 1590 and 1596, and the V&A’s partial copy of the manuscript is thought to have been illustrated between about 1592 and 1595. This is thought to be the earliest illustrated version of the text, and drew upon the expertise of some of the best royal artists of the time. Many of these are listed by Abu’l Fazl in the third volume of the text, the A’in-i Akbari, and some of these names appear in the V&A illustrations, written in red ink beneath the pictures, showing that this was a royal copy made for Akbar himself. After his death, the manuscript remained in the library of his son Jahangir (r.1605–1627), from whom it was inherited by Shah Jahan (r.1628–1658).
Credit: Victoria and Albert Museum,
Bhima Kills Kichaka and his brothers, signed by Dhannu from Razmnama - Mughal Miniature Painting, circa 1598-99
This Razmnama painting in nim-qalam style depicts Bhima killing Kichaka and his hundred and one brothers as a punishment for Kichaka's lecherous behaviour towards Draupadi. The inscription in nasta'liq below the painting reads 'Bhima killing Kichaka together with one hundred and one brothers and Draupadi pulling [herself] from the hand of [their] associates'. The text on the reverse is from the Mahabharata Book IV, 21-24, and tells the story illustrated here.
The Razmnama is the abridged version of the Hindu epic poem the Mahabharata which tells the story of a rivalry between cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, for the kingdom of Hastinpura. One of the central figures is the god Krishna, who assists the Pandava brothers. This vast work was translated into Persian at the request of Akbar in 1582-83 but the presentation manuscript with 168 paintings, now preserved in the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in Jaipur, was not completed until 1586 (for illustrations of some of them see Das in Das et al. 1998, pp.52-66).
The current illustration comes from the second copy of the Razmnama that was finished in 1598-99, the final five parts and colophon of which are housed in the British Library. However, it is not merely a replica of the imperial prototype, as less than a fifth of its paintings, including the present scene, are represented in the Jaipur Razmnama.
This full page work, along with nine of the manuscript's other paintings, is by the artist Dhannu, a prolific painter of the imperial Mughal atelier of the period 1580-1605. His earliest works can be found in the Darabnama of circa 1580, and later in the Tarikh-i Khandan-i Timuriyya, the Jaipur Razmnama, the Victoria and Albert Museum Akbarnama, the Keir Collection Khamsa of Nizami, the Jaipur Ramayana, the British Library Baburnama, the National Museum of Delhi Baburnama, the 'Iyar-i Danish, the 1596 Chingiznama and the Akhlaq-i Nasiri. The most distinctive feature of Dhannu's painting style is his treatment of the faces which at times borders on caricature. In this instance many of the faces are finely drawn, particularly that of the wild-haired Bhima, whose expression, whilst effortlessly dispatching four brothers, verges on the nonchalant. The body of the dead Kichaka burns on a pyre in the foreground. For a detailed discussion of the 1598 Razmnama see Seyller 1985. This painting is additional to the nine other paintings by Dhannu listed there.
Credit: sothebys.com
Page from a Manuscript of Akbarnāmah (Biography of the Mughal Emperor Akbar) - Mughal Painting, 16th Century
This leaf depicting the scene of a fatal quarrel over a prostitute comes from a manuscript of Akbarnāmah (a biography of the Mughal Emperor Akbar [r. 963 AH / 1556 CE -- 1014 AH / 1605 CE]) by his prime minster Abū al- Faz̤l ibn Mubārak (d. 1011 AH / 1602 CE). It was produced in Mughal India at the end of the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE.
Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
A Yellow-Backed Woodpecker, attributed to Mansur - Mughal Miniature Painting, circa 1585-90
When this painting of a woodpecker was first published, in The British Museum exhibition catalogue of 1976 Paintings from the Muslim Courts of India, the entry, written by Dr. Ellen Smart linked it to illustrations of birds and animals in the early copies of the Baburnama. Subsequently this link has been cemented with an attribution to the great Mughal master Mansur, who is particularly known for his paintings of birds and animals, and who painted several of the early Baburnama illustrations of natural history.
Mansur began his career in the late 1580s, when his early style of natural history painting appears in the Baburnama, c.1589. He rose to become the most skilled and illustrious of the Indian painters of fauna and flora in the seventeenth century. He was fortunate that his royal patrons were very interested in natural history, following in the footsteps of Babur and Humayun, and his natural prowess in this direction allowed a flowering of his career and a chance to fulfil his great talent. Emperor Jahangir (ruled 1605-27) mentioned him four times in his Tuzuk-i Jahangiri and awarded him the title of Nadir al-’Asr ('Wonder of the Age'). He was also an exceptional illuminator, contributing illuminated pages and borders to several royal manuscripts and albums.
The type of bird represented here has for a long time been slightly mis-identified. It is in fact a Black-Rumped Flameback Woodpecker (Dinopium benghalense), sometimes known as a Lesser Golden-Backed Woodpecker. It is a widespread resident of the Indian subcontinent, inhabiting open forests and often breeding in old tamarisk and acacia trees.
Credit: sothebys.com
Krishna kills the evil king of Mathura Kansa - Mughal Painting c1590
Source: http://collections.vam.ac.uk
A Mughal Prince (Probably Akbar) Riding an Elephant in Procession - c1570
This fragment of a larger painting on cloth was made for Akbar at the same period as the Hamzanama series. A prince, perhaps Akbar himself (now only seen in the original under-drawing), rides a large elephant at the head of a lively royal procession of elephants. The upper part of this painting is in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Cloth-paintings of this kind were probably displayed within the emperor’s tent quarters on his travels and campaigns.
Medium: Gouache with Gold on Cotton Cloth
Source: ashmolean.org
Buffaloes in Combat, Mughal Painting, Late 16th Century
Artist: Attributed to Miskin (active ca. 1570–1604)
Medium: Ink, watercolor, and gold on paper
Source: http://www.metmuseum.org
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Illustrations from the Manuscript of Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur) - Late 16th Century
Bāburnāma is the memoirs of Ẓahīr ud-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is an autobiographical work, originally written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as "Turki" (meaning Turkic), the spoken language of the Andijan-Timurids. Because of Babur's cultural origin, his prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary,and also contains many phrases and smaller poems in Persian. During Emperor Akbar's reign, the work was completely translated to Persian by a Mughal courtier, Abdul Rahīm, in AH (Hijri) 998 (1589-90).
These Paintings, being a fragment of a dispersed copy, was executed most probably in the late 10th AH /16th CE century. It contains 30 mostly full-page miniatures in fine Mughal style by at least two different artists. Another major fragment of this work (57 folios) is in the State Museum of Eastern Cultures, Moscow.
These Paintings, being a fragment of a dispersed copy, was executed most probably in the late 10th AH /16th CE century. It contains 30 mostly full-page miniatures in fine Mughal style by at least two different artists. Another major fragment of this work (57 folios) is in the State Museum of Eastern Cultures, Moscow.
An awards ceremony in the Sultan Ibrāhīm’s court before being sent on an expedition to Sambhal
Animals of Hindustan monkeys called bandar that can be taught to do tricks, from Illuminated manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)
Animals of Hindustan monkeys, rodents and the peacock, from Illuminated manuscript Baburnama
(Memoirs of Babur)
Animals of Hindustan small deer and cows called gīnī, from Illuminated manuscript Baburnama
(Memoirs of Babur)
Babur and his army in the Sinjid valley on the way to Kabul
Babur and his party hunting for rhinoceros in Swati, from Illuminated manuscript Baburnama
Babur and his warriors visiting the Hindu temple Gurh Kattri (Kūr Katrī) in Bigram
Babur being entertained in Ghaznī by Jahāngīr Mīrzā
Babur confronts his enemies in the mountains of Kharābūk and Pashāmūn
Babur entering Kabul, from Illuminated manuscript Baburnama
Babur on the way to Hindustan camps at Jām and with the help of his guide Malik Bū Saʿīd Kamarī is exploring Bigram and enquiring about the Hindu temple Gurh Kattri
Babur, during his second Hindustan campaign, riding a raft from Kunar back to Atar
Babur's defeat of the Afghans at the Jagdalek Pass
Birds of Hindustan luchas, called būqalamūn, and partridges
Birds of Hindustan starlings, called pandāvalī
Birds of Hindustan, such as crows, magpies, and cuckoos, that live beside water, and alligators
Ḥamzah Sulṭān, Mahdī Sulṭan and Mamāq Sulṭān pay homage to Babur
Having opened the gates of the Murghīnān fortress, ʿAlī Dūst Ṭaghāyī is paying homage to Babur
Homage being paid to Babur, in 910 AH1504 CE, by Bāqī Chaghānyānī near the river Oxus (Daryā Āmū)
Illuminated Manuscript Baburnamah
Illuminated single leaf, Battle Scene from the Baburnamah
Muḥammad Ḥusaym Mīrzā, a relative of Babur, in spite of his treachery, is being released and send to Khurāsān
Sultan Muḥammad Vays offers Babur a healthy horse to replace his ailing one
The battle of Panipat and the death of Sultan Ibrāhīm, the last of the Lōdī Sultans of Delhi
The battle of Sultan Ḥusayn Mīrzā against Sultan Masʿūd Mīrzā at Hiṣṣār
The final phase of the battle of Kandahar on the side of the Murghan mountain
The inhabitants of Osh (Ūsh) drive the enemy out with sticks and clubs and hold the town for Babur
The siege and battle of Isfarah. Babur and his army assaults the fortress of Ibrāhīm Sārū
Source: Flickr Gallery of The Walters Art Museum
Ivory relief of Rama and Lakshmana. Vaishnava, India. 16th century AD
This Sculpture once belonged to Lady Henrietta Clive, daughter-in-law of Lord Robert Clive. Clive led the British forces at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, one of the climactic events leading to the establishment of British rule in India. Lady Clive lived in Madras in south India between 1798 and 1803, where her husband, the son of Robert Clive, was governor.Source:http://www.bmimages.com
Anvar-I-Suhaili Illustration 1570
Anvar-I-Suhaili is an illustrated fable book, which depicts animals and birds in their natural surroundings with human like emotions. There is a strong influence of indigenous idiom however the Persian convention is also retained. In many of the illustrations both the flora and fauna are genuinely Indian in treatment and feeling. The depiction is natural, lively and even combines the element of humor. (Source)
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