Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
Showing posts with label Mughal Painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mughal Painting. Show all posts
Dancing girls - Mixture of Mughal and Rajput styles, Circa 18th Century
Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
Portrait of Third Mughal Emperor Akbar - Mughal Painting, Circa 18th Century
This painting depicts the third Mughal Emperor Akbar (r. 963 AH / 1556 CE -- 1014 AH / 1605 CE). It was executed in Mughal India in the twelfth century AH / eighteenth CE. Akbar is shown seated on a throne and holding the crown in his hands. The inscription in Devanagari script on the left side identifies the sitter as Akbar. The image is framed by salmon and blue borders with illuminated floral motifs.
Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
Mughal Emperor with a Docuemnt - Mughal Painting, circa 18th or 19th Century
This painting depicts a Mughal emperor, yet to be identified, seated in an inlaid chair of European design, on the bank of a brook in a rocky landscape. He is reading an unrolled document which may have been presented to him by the figure standing to his left. The standing figure bears some physiognomic resemblance to portraits of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 963-1014 AH / 1556-1605 CE). On the ground between the two figures is a crown and garment. A figure on horseback makes the gesture of surprise in the background. The painting was executed in India during the twelfth or thirteenth century AH / eighteenth or nineteenth CE. The polychrome floral borders surrounding the image are not much later than the image itself.
Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
Portrait of Lal Kunwar, the beloved of the eighth Mughal Emperor Jahandār Shāh - Mughal Painting Circa 18th century
This Mughal color-wash drawing, dating to the twelfth century AH / eighteenth CE, depicts Lāl Kunwar, the beloved of the eighth Mughal Emperor Jahandār Shāh (d. 1125 AH / 1713 CE). Originally a dancing girl, she became Jahandār's concubine and later the queen consort. Contemporary historians noted Jahandār Shāh's decadent lifestyle and his devotion to the female entertainer Lāl Kunwar, who is named in the inscription at the top of the page. Reportedly, Lāl Kunwar had much influence at Jahandār's court. The seals in the upper corners of the page were added later.
Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
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
Illustration of a Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) - Mughal Painting, Circa 1640
This painting of a nilgai (also called a blue bull or Boselaphus tragocamelus), which is an antelope indigenous to Asia, is attributable to the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1037-1068 AH / 1627-1658 CE). Such animal studies were popular commissions among the Mughal emperors, who showed a marked curiosity about the natural world in their royal histories. Patronage of paintings of flora, fauna, and animals received a particular impetus under the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1014-1037 AH / 1605-27 CE) and was continued under later Mughals. The detailed foliage in the foreground and the light green background are comparable to other studies of single animals dating to c. 1049 AH / 1640 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
Emperor Akbar is Riding and Controlling his Elephant, which has Gone into Heat (Must) - Mughal Painting, Circa 17th Century
This single leaf depicts the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 963-1014 AH / 1556–1605 CE), who continues to ride and control his elephant, which has gone into heat (must). The elephant is shown attacking a horse, whose rider has fallen beneath his steed. In turn, the horse bites the elephant’s trunk. The event documents the courage and determination of the emperor, who is identified in an inscription at the top of the page in black nastaʿlīq script as Muḥammad Jalāl al-Dīn Akbar Pādshāh. This inscription was likely written by a later viewer. The border, in yellow, black, blue, and orange, probably dates to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE.
Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
Mughal Prince Dara Shikoh and the Holy Man Shah Sarmad (Sarmad Kashani) Seated unde a Tree - Mughal Painting, Circa 18th Century
According to inscriptions written in nastaʿlīq script, this painting depicts the Mughal prince Dārā Shikōh (b. 1024 AH / 1615 CE) and the holy man Shāh Sarmad (Sarmad Kashani) seated under a tree. Behind the wise man stands an attendant with a peacock-feather fan. A celebrated scholar, sufi, and ruler, Dārā Shikōh was the eldest son of Shāh Jahān.
Credit: thedigitalwalters.org
A Hindu lady and Three of her Attendants are on a Terrace - Mughal Painting Circa 1700-1710
Credit: brooklynmuseum.org
A Noblewoman Visits a Lingam Shrine at Night - Mughal Painting, Late 18th Century
Credit: sothebys.com
A Prince and Princess Riding at Night - Mughal Painting, Second Half of 18th Century
Credit: sothebys.com
A Composite Illustration from the Razmnama - Mughal Painting 1616-17
This leaf comes from the one of the major illustrated reproductions of the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. During this period two other versions were produced; a dispersed copy originating from 1598 and a version dating from 1605. This particular copy of 1616-17 was commissioned by the great bibliophile 'Abd al-Rahim, also commander of the Mughal armies to which he was appointed in 1584.
Credit: sothebys.com
A Prince and his Mistress in an Embrace - Mughal Painting, India, c. 1640
Credit: francescagalloway.com
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