Mughal Painting
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Mughal painting is a style of painting on paper confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (
muraqqa A Muraqqa ( tr, Murakka, ar, مورّقة, fa, مُرَقّع) is an album in book form containing Islamic miniature paintings and specimens of Islamic calligraphy, normally from several different sources, and perhaps other matter. The album ...
), from the territory of the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
in
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
. It emerged from
Persian miniature A Persian miniature (Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a ''muraqqa''. The ...
painting (itself partly of Chinese origin) and developed in the court of the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
of the 16th to 18th centuries. Battles, legendary stories, hunting scenes, wildlife, royal life, mythology, as well as other subjects have all been frequently depicted in paintings. The Mughal emperors were Muslims and they are credited with consolidating Islam in South Asia, and spreading Muslim (and particularly Persian) arts and culture as well as the faith. Mughal painting immediately took a much greater interest in realistic portraiture than was typical of Persian miniatures. Animals and plants were the main subject of many miniatures for albums, and were more realistically depicted. Although many classic works of
Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
continued to be illustrated, as well as Indian works, the taste of the Mughal emperors for writing memoirs or diaries, begun by Babur, provided some of the most lavishly decorated texts, such as the
Padshahnama Padshahnama or ''Badshah Nama'' ( fa, پادشاهنامه or پادشاه‌نامه) (Chronicle of the Emperor Shah Jahan) is a group of works written as the official history of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Unillustrated texts ...
genre of official histories. Subjects are rich in variety and include portraits, events and scenes from court life, wild life and hunting scenes, and illustrations of battles. The Persian tradition of richly decorated borders framing the central image (mostly trimmed in the images shown here) was continued, as was a modified form of the Persian convention of an elevated viewpoint. The Mughal painting style later spread to other Indian courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and later Sikh, and was often used to depict Hindu subjects. This was mostly in northern India. It developed many regional styles in these courts, tending to become bolder but less refined. These are often described as "post-Mughal", "sub-Mughal" or "provincial Mughal". The mingling of foreign Persian and indigenous Indian elements was a continuation of the patronage of other aspects of foreign culture as initiated by the earlier Turko-Afghan
Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).
, and the introduction of it into the subcontinent by various Central Asian Turkish dynasties, such as the
Ghaznavids The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...
.


Subjects


Portraits

From fairly early the Mughal style made a strong feature of realistic portraiture, normally in profile, and influenced by Western prints, which were available at the Mughal court. This had never been a feature of either
Persian miniature A Persian miniature (Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a ''muraqqa''. The ...
or earlier Indian painting. The pose, rarely varied in portraits, was to have the head in strict profile, but the rest of the body half turned towards the viewer. For a long time portraits were always of men, often accompanied by generalized female servants or
concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...
s; but there is scholarly debate about the representation of female court members in portraiture. Some scholars claim there are no known extant likenesses of figures like
Jahanara Begum Jahanara Begum (23 March 1614 – 16 September 1681) was a Mughal princess and later the Padshah Begum of the Mughal Empire from 1631 to 1658 and again from 1668 until her death. She was the second and the eldest surviving child of Emperor Shah ...
and
Mumtaz Mahal Mumtaz Mahal (/'/; ), born Arjumand Banu Begum (27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631) was the empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, oft ...
, and others attribute miniatures, for example from the
Dara Shikoh Dara Shikoh ( fa, ), also known as Dara Shukoh, (20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659) was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title ''Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba'' ("Prince of High Rank" ...
album or the
Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sac ...
mirror portrait, to these famous noblewomen. The single idealized figure of the Riza Abbasi type was less popular, but fully painted scenes of lovers in a palace setting became popular later. Drawings of genre scenes, especially showing holy men, whether Muslim or Hindu, were also popular. Akbar had an album, now dispersed, consisting entirely of portraits of figures at his enormous court which had a practical purpose; according to chroniclers he used to consult it when discussing appointments and the like with his advisors, apparently to jog his memory of who the people being discussed were. Many of them, like medieval European images of saints, carried objects associated with them to help identification, but otherwise the figures stand on a plain background. There are a number of fine portraits of Akbar, but it was under his successors
Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...
and Shah Jahan that the portrait of the ruler became firmly established as a leading subject in Indian miniature painting, which was to spread to both Muslim and Hindu princely courts across India. From the 17th century equestrian portraits, mostly of rulers, became another popular borrowing from the West. Another new type of image showed the
Jharokha Darshan ''Jharokha Darshan'' ( fa, جهروکه درشن) (Hindi: झरोखा दर्शन) was a daily practice of addressing the public audience ('' darshan'') at the balcony (''jharokha'') at the forts and palaces of medieval kings in India. ...
(literally "balcony view/worship"), or public display of the emperor to the court, or the public, which became a daily ceremonial under Akbar,
Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...
and
Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
, before being stopped as un-Islamic by Aurangzeb. In these scenes, the emperor is shown at top on a balcony or at a window, with a crowd of courtiers below, sometimes including many portraits. Like the increasingly large halos these emperors were given in single portraits, the
iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
reflects the aspiration of the later Mughals to project an image as the representative of
Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...
on earth, or even as having a quasi-divine status themselves. Other images show the enthroned emperor having meetings, receiving visitors, or in durbar, or formal council. These and royal portraits incorporated in hunting scenes became highly popular types in later
Rajput painting Rajput painting, also called Rajasthan painting, evolved and flourished in the royal courts of Rajputana in northern India, mainly during the 17th century. Artists trained in the tradition of the Mughal miniature were dispersed from the imperia ...
and other post-Mughal styles. Another popular subject area was realistic studies of animals and plants, mostly flowers; the text of the ''
Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...
'' includes a number of descriptions of such subjects, which were illustrated in the copies made for Akbar. These subjects also had specialist artists, including
Ustad Mansur Ustad Mansur (flourished 1590-1624) was a seventeenth-century Mughal painter and court artist. He grew up during the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605 - 1627) during which period he excelled at depicting plants and animals. He was the earliest artist t ...
.
Milo C. Beach Milo Cleveland Beach is an American art historian and the former director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art. Beach is a historian of Indian art, specifically Indian painting. He graduated from Harvard College and credi ...
argues that "Mughal naturalism has been greatly overstressed. Early animal imagery consists of variations on a theme, rather than new, innovative observations". He sees considerable borrowings from Chinese animal paintings on paper, which seem not to have been highly valued by Chinese collectors, and so reached India.


Illustrated books

In the formative period of the style, under Akbar, the imperial workshop produced a number of heavily illustrated copies of established books in Persian. One of the first, probably from the 1550s and now mostly in the
Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
, was a ''
Tutinama Tutinama (), literal meaning "Tales of a Parrot", is a 14th-century series of 52 stories in Persian. The work remains well-known largely because of a number of lavishly illustrated manuscripts, especially a version containing 250 miniature paintin ...
'' with some 250 rather simple and rather small miniatures, most with only a few figures. In contrast the ''
Hamzanama The ''Hamzanama'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Hamzenâme'', Epic of Hamza) or ''Dastan-e-Amir Hamza'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Dâstâne Amir Hamze'', "Adventures of Amir Hamza") narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib, an uncl ...
'' Akbar commissioned had unusually large pages, of densely woven cotton rather than the usual paper, and the images were very often crowded with figures. The work was "a continuous series of romantic interludes, threatening events, narrow escapes, and violent acts", supposedly telling the life of an uncle of
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
. Akbar's manuscript had a remarkable total of some 1400 miniatures, one on every opening, with the relevant text written on the back of the page, presumably to be read to the emperor as he looked at each image. This colossal project took most of the 1560s, and probably beyond. These and a few other early works saw a fairly unified Mughal workshop style emerge by around 1580. Other large projects included biographies or memoirs of the
Mughal dynasty The Mughal dynasty ( fa, ; ''Dudmân-e Mughal'') comprised the members of the imperial House of Babur ( fa, ; ''Khāndān-e-Āl-e-Bābur''), also known as the Gurkanis ( fa, ; ''Gūrkāniyān''), who ruled the Mughal Empire from to 1857. Th ...
.
Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...
, its founder, had written classic memoirs, which his grandson Akbar had translated into Persian, as the ''
Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...
'' (1589), and then produced in four lavishly illustrated copies, with up to 183 miniatures each. The ''
Akbarnama The ''Akbarnama'', which translates to ''Book of Akbar'', the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (), commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his court historian and biographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. It was ...
'' was Akbar's own commissioned biography or chronicle, produced in many versions, and the tradition continued with
Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...
's autobiography ''
Tuzk-e-Jahangiri ''Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri'' or ''Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri'' ( fa, ) or Jahangir-nama ( fa, ) is the autobiography of Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1569–1627). Also referred to as ''Jahangirnama'', the ''Tuzk-e-Jahangiri'' is written in Persian, and follows the ...
'' (or ''Jahangirnama'') and a celebratory biography of
Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
, called the ''
Padshahnama Padshahnama or ''Badshah Nama'' ( fa, پادشاهنامه or پادشاه‌نامه) (Chronicle of the Emperor Shah Jahan) is a group of works written as the official history of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Unillustrated texts ...
'', which brought the era of the large illustrated imperial biography to an end, around 1650. Akbar commissioned a copy of the ''
Zafarnama Zafarnama ( fa, ظفرنامه, lit. ''Book of Victory'') is the title of a number of Persian and Turkish literary works Zafarnama may also refer to: * ''Zafar-Namah'' or ''Timur-Namah'' of Hatefi, by a Persian epic poet dedicated to Timur * ''Za ...
'', a biography of his distant ancestor
Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
, but though he had his aunt write a biography of his father
Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern ...
, no illustrated manuscript survives. Volumes of the classics of
Persian poetry Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
usually had rather fewer miniatures, often around twenty, but often these were of the highest quality. Akbar also had the Hindu epic poems translated into Persian, and produced in illustrated versions. Four are known of the ''
Razmnama The ''Razmnāma'' (Book of War) (رزم نامہ) is a Persian translation of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. In 1574, Akbar started a Maktab Khana or "House of Translation" in his new capital at Fatehpur ...
'', a ''
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' in Persian, from between 1585 and c. 1617. Akbar had at least one copy of the Persian version of the ''
Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
''.


Origins

Mughal court painting, as opposed to looser variants of the Mughal style produced in regional courts and cities, drew little from indigenous non-Muslim traditions of painting. These were Hindu and Jain, and earlier Buddhist, and almost entirely religious. They existed mainly in relatively small illustrations to texts, but also mural paintings, and paintings in folk styles on cloth, in particular ones on scrolls made to be displayed by popular singers or reciters of the Hindu epics and other stories, performed by travelling specialists; very few early examples of these last survive. A vivid
Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
i tradition of mural paintings flourished between the 9th and 17th centuries, as seen in the murals of
Alchi Monastery Alchi Monastery or Alchi Gompa (also Alci) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, known more as a monastic complex (chos-'khor) of temples in Alchi village in the Leh District, under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council of the Ladakh Unio ...
or
Tsaparang Tsaparang was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Guge in the Garuda Valley, through which the upper Sutlej River flows, in Ngari Prefecture (Western Tibet) near the border of Ladakh. It is 278 km south-southwest of Senggezangbo Town and ...
: a number of Kashimiri painters were employed by
Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
and some influence of their art can be seen in various Mughal works, such as the ''
Hamzanama The ''Hamzanama'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Hamzenâme'', Epic of Hamza) or ''Dastan-e-Amir Hamza'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Dâstâne Amir Hamze'', "Adventures of Amir Hamza") narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib, an uncl ...
''. In contrast Mughal painting was "almost entirely secular", although religious figures were sometimes portrayed.
Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
, especially in portraits of both people and animals, became a key aim, far more than in Persian painting, let alone the Indian traditions. There was already a Muslim tradition of miniature painting under the Turko-Afghan
Sultanate of Delhi The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).
which the Mughals overthrew, and like the Mughals, and the very earliest of Central Asian invaders into the subcontinent, patronized foreign culture. These paintings were painted on loose-leaf paper, and were usually placed between decorated wooden covers. Although the first surviving manuscripts are from Mandu in the years either side of 1500, there were very likely earlier ones which are either lost, or perhaps now attributed to southern Persia, as later manuscripts can be hard to distinguish from these by style alone, and some remain the subject of debate among specialists. By the time of the Mughal invasion, the tradition had abandoned the high viewpoint typical of the Persian style, and adopted a more realistic style for animals and plants. No miniatures survive from the reign of the founder of the dynasty, Babur, nor does he mention commissioning any in his
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
s, the ''
Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...
''. Copies of this were illustrated by his descendents, Akbar in particular, with many portraits of the many new animals Babur encountered when he invaded India, which are carefully described. However some surviving un-illustrated manuscripts may have been commissioned by him, and he comments on the style of some famous past Persian masters. Some older illustrated manuscripts have his seal on them; the Mughals came from a long line stretching back to
Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
and were fully assimilated into
Persianate A Persianate society is a society that is based on or strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art and/or identity. The term "Persianate" is a neologism credited to Marshall Hodgson. In his 1974 book, ''The Venture of Is ...
culture, and expected to patronize literature and the arts. The style of the Mughal school developed within the royal
atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...
. Knowledge was primarily transmitted through familial and apprenticeship relationships, and the system of joint manuscript production which brought multiple artists together for single works. In some cases, senior artists would draw the illustrations in outline, and more junior ones would usually apply the colours, especially for background areas. Where no artist names are inscribed, it is very difficult to trace Imperial Mughal paintings back to specific artists.


Development

After a tentative start under Humayun, the great period of Mughal painting was during the next three reigns, of
Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
,
Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...
and
Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
, which covered just over a century between them.


Humayun (1530–1540 and 1555–1556)

When the second Mughal emperor,
Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern ...
was in exile in
Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
in the
Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
court of
Shah Tahmasp I Tahmasp I ( fa, طهماسب, translit=Ṭahmāsb or ; 22 February 1514 – 14 May 1576) was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 to 1576. He was the eldest son of Ismail I and his principal consort, Tajlu Khanum. Ascending the throne after ...
of Persia, he was exposed to Persian miniature painting, and commissioned at least one work there (or in
Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
), an unusually large painting on cloth of ''Princes of the House of Timur'', now in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. Originally a group portrait with his sons, in the next century
Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...
had it added to make it a dynastic group including dead ancestors. When Humayun returned to India, he brought two accomplished Persian artists
Abd al-Samad 'Abd al-Ṣamad or Khwaja 'Abd-us-Ṣamad was a 16th century painter of Persian miniatures who moved to India and became one of the founding masters of the Mughal miniature tradition, and later the holder of a number of senior administrative rol ...
and
Mir Sayyid Ali Mir Sayyid Ali (Tabriz, 1510 – 1572) was a Persian miniature painter who was a leading artist of Persian miniatures before working under the Mughal dynasty in India, where he became one of the artists responsible for developing the style of Mugha ...
with him. His usurping brother
Kamran Mirza Kamran Mirza ( fa, ) (1512 – 5 October 1557) was the second son of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire and the first Mughal Emperor. Kamran Mirza was born in Kabul to Babur's wife Gulrukh Begum. He was half-brother to Babur's eldest s ...
had maintained a workshop in Kabul, which Humayan perhaps took over into his own. Humayan's major known commission was a ''
Khamsa of Nizami The ''Khamsa'' ( fa, خمسه, 'Quintet' or 'Quinary', from Arabic) or ''Panj Ganj'' ( fa, پنج گنج, 'Five Treasures') is the main and best known work of Nizami Ganjavi. Description The ''Khamsa'' is in five long narrative poems: * '' Mak ...
'' with 36 illuminated pages, in which the different styles of the various artists are mostly still apparent. Apart from the London painting, he also commissioned at least two miniatures showing himself with family members, a type of subject that was rare in Persia but common among the Mughals.


Akbar (r. 1556–1605)

During the reign of Humayun's son
Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
(r. 1556–1605), the imperial court, apart from being the centre of administrative authority to manage and rule the vast Mughal empire, also emerged as a centre of cultural excellence. Akbar inherited and expanded his father's library and atelier of court painters, and paid close personal attention to its output. He had studied painting in his youth under
Abd as-Samad 'Abd al-Ṣamad or Khwaja 'Abd-us-Ṣamad was a 16th century painter of Persian miniatures who moved to India and became one of the founding masters of the Mughal miniature tradition, and later the holder of a number of senior administrative rol ...
, though it is not clear how far these studies went. Between 1560 and 1566 the ''
Tutinama Tutinama (), literal meaning "Tales of a Parrot", is a 14th-century series of 52 stories in Persian. The work remains well-known largely because of a number of lavishly illustrated manuscripts, especially a version containing 250 miniature paintin ...
'' ("Tales of a Parrot"), now in the
Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
was illustrated, showing "the stylistic components of the imperial Mughal style at a formative stage". Among other manuscripts, between 1562 and 1577 the atelier worked on an illustrated manuscript of the ''
Hamzanama The ''Hamzanama'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Hamzenâme'', Epic of Hamza) or ''Dastan-e-Amir Hamza'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Dâstâne Amir Hamze'', "Adventures of Amir Hamza") narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib, an uncl ...
'' consisting of 1,400 cotton
folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
s, unusually large at 69 cm x 54 cm (approx. 27 x 20 inches) in size. This huge project "served as a means of moulding the disparate styles of his artists, from Iran and from different parts of India, into one unified style". By the end, the style reached maturity, and "the flat and decorative compositions of Persian painting have been transformed by creating a believable space in which characters painted in the round can perform". Sa'di's masterpiece The ''
Gulistan Gulistan, Golestan or Golastan ( fa, گلستان) means "flower land" in Persian language (''gol'' meaning "flower", and ''-stan'' or meaning "land"). It may refer to: Places Iran "Golestan" most often refers to: * Golestan province in nor ...
'' was produced at
Fatehpur Sikri Fatehpur Sikri () is a town in the Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India. Situated 35.7 kilometres from the district headquarters of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri itself was founded as the capital of Mughal Empire in 1571 by Emperor Akbar, serving th ...
in 1582, a ''
Darab Nama The ''Darab-nama'' ( fa, داراب‌نامه) (Book of Daaraab) is a Persian prose romance, written by the 12th-century writer Abu Tahir Tarsusi, in which the adventures of the Kayanid Iranian King Darab are recounted. Author Not much is known ...
'' around 1585; the Khamsa of Nizami (British Library, Or. 12208) followed in the 1590s and
Jami Nūr ad-Dīn 'Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī ( fa, نورالدین عبدالرحمن جامی; 7 November 1414 – 9 November 1492), also known as Mawlanā Nūr al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān or Abd-Al-Rahmān Nur-Al-Din Muhammad Dashti, or simply as J ...
's ''Baharistan'' around 1595 in
Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
. As Mughal-derived painting spread to
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
courts the texts illustrated included the Hindu
epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
s including the
Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
and the
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
; themes with animal fables; individual portraits; and paintings on scores of different themes. Mughal style during this period continued to refine itself with elements of realism and naturalism coming to the fore. Between 1570–1585, Akbar hired over one hundred painters to practice Mughal style painting. Akbar's rule established a celebratory theme among the Mughal Empire. In this new period, Akbar persuaded artist to focus on showing off spectacles and including grand symbols like elephants in their work to create the sense of a prospering empire. Along with this new mindset, Akbar also encouraged his people to write down and find a way to record what they remembered from earlier times to ensure that others would be able to remember the greatness of the Mughal empire.


Jahangir (1605–1625)

Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...
had an artistic inclination and during his reign Mughal painting developed further. Brushwork became finer and the colours lighter. Jahangir was also deeply influenced by European painting. During his reign he came into direct contact with the English Crown and was sent gifts of oil paintings, which included portraits of the King and Queen. He encouraged his royal atelier to take up the single point perspective favoured by European artists, unlike the flattened multi-layered style used in traditional miniatures. He particularly encouraged paintings depicting events of his own life, individual portraits, and studies of birds, flowers and animals. The ''
Tuzk-e-Jahangiri ''Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri'' or ''Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri'' ( fa, ) or Jahangir-nama ( fa, ) is the autobiography of Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1569–1627). Also referred to as ''Jahangirnama'', the ''Tuzk-e-Jahangiri'' is written in Persian, and follows the ...
'' (or ''Jahangirnama''), written during his lifetime, which is an autobiographical account of Jahangir's reign, has several paintings, including some unusual subjects such as the union of a saint with a tigress, and fights between spiders. Mughal paintings made during Jahangir's reign continued the trend of Naturalism and were influenced by the resurgence of Persian styles and subjects over more traditional Hindu.


Shah Jahan (1628–1659)

During the reign of
Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
(1628–58), Mughal paintings continued to develop, but court paintings became more rigid and formal. The illustrations from the "Padshanama" (chronicle of the King of the world), one of the finest Islamic manuscripts from the Royal Collection, at Windsor, were painted during the reign of Shah Jahan. Written in Persian on paper that is flecked with gold, has exquisitely rendered paintings. The "Padshahnama" has portraits of the courtiers and servants of the King painted with great detail and individuality. In keeping with the strict formality at court, however the portraits of the King and important nobles was rendered in strict profile, whereas servants and common people, depicted with individual features have been portrayed in the three-quarter view or the frontal view. Themes including musical parties; lovers, sometimes in intimate positions, on terraces and gardens; and ascetics gathered around a fire, abound in the Mughal paintings of this period. Even though this period was titled the most prosperous, artists during this time were expected to adhere to representing life in court as organized and unified. For this reason, most art created under his rule focused mainly on the emperor and aided in establishing his authority. The purpose of this art was to leave behind an image of what the Mughal's believed to be the ideal ruler and state.


Later paintings

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
(1658–1707) was never an enthusiastic patron of painting, largely for religious reasons , and took a turn away from the pomp and ceremonial of the court around 1668, after which he probably commissioned no more paintings. After 1681 he moved to the
Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...
to pursue his slow conquest of the
Deccan Sultanates The Deccan sultanates were five Islamic late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. Th ...
, never returning to live in the north. Mughal paintings continued to survive, but the decline had set in. Some sources however note that a few of the best Mughal paintings were made for Aurangzeb, speculating that they believed that he was about to close the workshops and thus exceeded themselves in his behalf. There was a brief revival during the reign of
Muhammad Shah Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah (born Roshan Akhtar; 7 August 1702 – 26 April 1748) was the 13th Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1719 to 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. After being chosen by the ...
'Rangeela' (1719–48), but by the time of
Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His powe ...
(1759–1806), the art of Mughal painting had lost its glory. By that time, other schools of Indian painting had developed, including, in the royal courts of the Rajput kingdoms of
Rajputana Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day ...
,
Rajput painting Rajput painting, also called Rajasthan painting, evolved and flourished in the royal courts of Rajputana in northern India, mainly during the 17th century. Artists trained in the tradition of the Mughal miniature were dispersed from the imperia ...
and in the cities ruled by the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, the
Company style Company style, also known as Company painting or Patna painting (Hindi: ''kampani kalam'') is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the East India Company ...
under Western influence. Late Mughal style often shows increased use of perspective and recession under Western influence. Many museums have collections, with that of the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London especially large.


Artists

The Persian master artists
Abd al-Samad 'Abd al-Ṣamad or Khwaja 'Abd-us-Ṣamad was a 16th century painter of Persian miniatures who moved to India and became one of the founding masters of the Mughal miniature tradition, and later the holder of a number of senior administrative rol ...
and
Mir Sayyid Ali Mir Sayyid Ali (Tabriz, 1510 – 1572) was a Persian miniature painter who was a leading artist of Persian miniatures before working under the Mughal dynasty in India, where he became one of the artists responsible for developing the style of Mugha ...
, who had accompanied
Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern ...
to India in the 16th century, were in charge of the imperial atelier during the formative stages of Mughal painting. Many artists worked on large commissions, the majority of them apparently Hindu, to judge by the names recorded. Mughal painting generally involved a group of artists, one (generally the most senior) to decide and outline the composition, the second to actually paint, and perhaps a third who specialized in portraiture, executing individual faces. This was especially the case with the large historical book projects that dominated production during Akbar's reign, the ''
Tutinama Tutinama (), literal meaning "Tales of a Parrot", is a 14th-century series of 52 stories in Persian. The work remains well-known largely because of a number of lavishly illustrated manuscripts, especially a version containing 250 miniature paintin ...
'', ''
Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...
'', ''
Hamzanama The ''Hamzanama'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Hamzenâme'', Epic of Hamza) or ''Dastan-e-Amir Hamza'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Dâstâne Amir Hamze'', "Adventures of Amir Hamza") narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib, an uncl ...
'', ''
Razmnama The ''Razmnāma'' (Book of War) (رزم نامہ) is a Persian translation of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. In 1574, Akbar started a Maktab Khana or "House of Translation" in his new capital at Fatehpur ...
'', and ''
Akbarnama The ''Akbarnama'', which translates to ''Book of Akbar'', the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (), commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his court historian and biographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. It was ...
''. For manuscripts of Persian poetry there was a different way of working, with the best masters apparently expected to produce exquisitely finished miniatures all or largely their own work. An influence on the evolution of style during Akbar's reign was
Kesu Das Kesu may refer to: Places *Kesu, Lääne County, village in Martna Parish, Lääne County, Estonia *Kesu, Rapla County, village in Vigala Parish, Rapla County, Estonia Other uses

* Kesu (film), ''Kesu'' (film), an Indian children's film releas ...
, who understood and developed "European techniques of rendering space and volume". Conveniently for modern scholars, Akbar liked to see the names of the artists written below each miniature. Analysis of manuscripts shows that individual miniatures were assigned to many painters. For example, the incomplete ''Razmnama'' in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
contains 24 miniatures, with 21 different names, though this may be an especially large number. Other important painters under Akbar and Jahangir were: *
Farrukh Beg Farrukh Beg (Persian: فرخ بیگ) (ca. 1547), also known as Farrukh Husayn, was a Persian miniature painter, who spent a bulk of his career in Safavid Iran and Mughal India, praised by Mughal Emperor Jahangir as “unrivaled in the age.” Fa ...
(c. 1545– c. 1615), another Persian import, in India from 1585–1590, perhaps then in
Bijapur Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...
, returning north from around 1605 to his death. *
Daswanth Daswanth or Dasavant (d. 1584) was a Mughal-era painter in the service of Akbar. He was a Hindu, probably of humble origin and was trained by the Persian master painter Khwāja ʿAbd al-Ṣamad. Of the large number of painters who worked in the i ...
, a Hindu, d. 1584, who worked especially on Akbar's ''
Razmnama The ''Razmnāma'' (Book of War) (رزم نامہ) is a Persian translation of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. In 1574, Akbar started a Maktab Khana or "House of Translation" in his new capital at Fatehpur ...
'', the ''
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' in Persian *
Basawan Basāwan, or Basāvan (flourished 1580–1600), was an Indian miniature painter in the Mughal style. He was known by his contemporaries as a skilled colorist and keen observer of human nature, and for his use of portraiture in the illustrations ...
a Hindu active c. 1580–1600, whose son
Manohar Das Manohar Das, also Manohar or Manuhar, (active 1582–1624) was an Indian Hindu painter in the Mughal style. Manohar's father Basawan was a master painter in the Mughal emperor's court, where Manohar grew up. His father most likely instructed h ...
was active c. 1582–1624 *
Govardhan Govardhan also called Giriraj, is a key pilgrimage centre in India and a municipal town; a nagar panchayat; seat of a MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), Member of Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pr ...
, active c. 1596 to 1640, another Hindu, especially good at portraits. His father Bhavani Das, had been a painter in the imperial workshop. *
Ustad Mansur Ustad Mansur (flourished 1590-1624) was a seventeenth-century Mughal painter and court artist. He grew up during the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605 - 1627) during which period he excelled at depicting plants and animals. He was the earliest artist t ...
(flourished 1590–1624) a specialist in animals and plants * Abu al-Hasan (1589 – c. 1630) *
Bichitr Bichitr (fl. 17th century) was an Indian painter during the Mughal period, patronized by the emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The earliest known painting of his is a mature work from c. 1615. He was possibly still active in 1660. Britannica ...
*
Bishandas Bishandas was a 17th-century Mughal painter at the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (1569–1627), specializing in portraits. Jahangir praised him as "unrivalled in the art of portraiture". Though little is known of Bishandas’ life, his ...
, a Hindu specialist in portraits *
Mushfiq Mushfiq was a sub-imperial Mughal painter who worked in the atelier of Abd-ur-Rahim Khan-i-Khanan (also called Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana), commander-in-chief of the Mughal army in the late 16th/early 17th century. He contributed numerous painting ...
an early example of an artist who seems never to have worked in the imperial atelier, but for other clients. *
Miskin Miskin ( cy, Meisgyn) is a village approximately south of Llantrisant in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The origin of the village was a small hamlet known as New Mill, which grew up around New Mill farm. Miskin is part of th ...
Others: Nanha, Daulat, Payag, Abd al-Rahim, Amal-e Hashim, Keshavdas, and Mah Muhammad. The sub-imperial school of Mughal painting included artists such as
Mushfiq Mushfiq was a sub-imperial Mughal painter who worked in the atelier of Abd-ur-Rahim Khan-i-Khanan (also called Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana), commander-in-chief of the Mughal army in the late 16th/early 17th century. He contributed numerous painting ...
, Kamal, and Fazl. During the first half of the 18th century, many Mughal-trained artists left the imperial workshop to work at Rajput courts. These include artists such as Bhawanidas and his son
Dalchand Dalchand was a Hindu Rajput painter who worked at the Jodphur court in Rajasthan in the first quarter of the 18th century. He painted several portraits and court scenes of his patron, Maharaja Abhai Singh, before moving to Kishangarh Kis ...
.


Mughal style today

Mughal-style miniature paintings are still being created today by a small number of artists in Lahore concentrated mainly in the National College of Arts. Although many of these miniatures are skillful copies of the originals, some artists have produced contemporary works using classic methods with, at times, remarkable artistic effect. The skills needed to produce these modern versions of Mughal miniatures are still passed on from generation to generation, although many artisans also employ dozens of workers, often painting under trying working conditions, to produce works sold under the signature of their modern masters.


Gallery

File:Painting of Akbar Mughal Period, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg, Portrait of Akbar File:A noble lady, Mughal dynasty, India. 17th century.jpg, A noble lady, Mughal dynasty, India. 17th century. Color and gold on paper
Freer Gallery of Art F1907.219
File:Nurjahan.jpg,
Nur Jahan Nur Jahan, born Mehr-un-Nissa P ersian: نورجهان (; – 18 December 1645) was the wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Jahangir from 1620 until his death in 1627. Nur Jahan was born Mehr-un-Nissa, as the daughter of a Mirza Ghi ...
File:Shah Jahan on a Terrace Holding a Pendant Set with His Portrait.jpg,
Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
on a terrace holding a pendant set with his portrait File:Attributed to Hiranand - Illustration from a Dictionary (unidentified)- Da'ud Receives a Robe of Honor from Mun'im Khan - Google Art Project.jpg,
Daud Khan Karrani Daud Khan Karrani (died on 12 July 1576) was the last ruler of Bengal's Karrani dynasty as well as the final Sultan of Bengal, reigning from 1572 to 1576. During the reign of his father Sulaiman Khan Karrani, Daud commanded a massive army of 40 ...
receives a
Kaftan A kaftan or caftan (; fa, خفتان, ) is a variant of the robe or tunic. Originating in Asia, it has been worn by a number of cultures around the world for thousands of years. In Russian usage, ''kaftan'' instead refers to a style of men's l ...
of honor from
Munim Khan Munʿim Khān ( fa, ) was a Mughal general under both emperors Humayun and Akbar. He was titled ''Khān-i-Khānān'' ('Khan of Khans') when Emperor Akbar appointed him as Prime Minister of the Mughal Empire in 1560. In 1564, he became the S ...
File:1561-The Victory of Ali Quli Khan on the river Gomti-Akbarnama.jpg, Victory of
Ali Quli Khan Nawab Ali Quli Mirza Bahadur was the ancestor of Nawabs of Banganapalle and Masulipatam. He belongs to The Najm-i-Sani Dynasty. Genealogy He was elder son of Faiz Beg Najm-i-Sani, and grandson of Nawab Mirza Muhammad Bakir Khan Najm-i-Sani a ...
on the river Gomti-Akbarnama, 1561 File:Mir Sayyid Ali - Portrait of a Young Indian Scholar.jpg,
Mir Sayyid Ali Mir Sayyid Ali (Tabriz, 1510 – 1572) was a Persian miniature painter who was a leading artist of Persian miniatures before working under the Mughal dynasty in India, where he became one of the artists responsible for developing the style of Mugha ...
's depiction of a young scholar in the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, reading and writing a commentary on the
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
, 1559. File:Battle scene from the 1570 Hamzanama of Akbar.jpg, Battle scene from the '' Hamzanama of Akbar'', 1570 File:1561-The Submission of the rebel brothers Ali Quli and Bahadur Khan-Akbarnama.jpg, The Submission of the rebel brothers Ali Quli and Bahadur Khan. ''
Akbarnama The ''Akbarnama'', which translates to ''Book of Akbar'', the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (), commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his court historian and biographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. It was ...
'', 1590–95 File:1561-Akbar riding the elephant Hawa'I pursuing another elephant across a collapsing bridge of boats (right).jpg, Akbar riding the elephant Hawa'I pursuing another elephant across a collapsing bridge of boats (right), 1561 File:1562-Pir Muhammad Drowns While Crossing the Narbada-Akbarnama.jpg, Pir Muhammad Drowns While Crossing the Narbada-Akbarnama, 1562 File:1573-Akbar receiving his sons at Fathpur-Akbarnama.jpg, Akbar receiving his sons at
Fatehpur Sikri Fatehpur Sikri () is a town in the Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India. Situated 35.7 kilometres from the district headquarters of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri itself was founded as the capital of Mughal Empire in 1571 by Emperor Akbar, serving th ...
. ''
Akbarnama The ''Akbarnama'', which translates to ''Book of Akbar'', the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (), commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his court historian and biographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. It was ...
'', 1573 File:Europeans Embracing LACMA M.83.105.20 (1 of 3).jpg, Europeans embracing,
Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
, c. 1590 File:"Alexander is Lowered Into the Sea".jpg, ''Alexander is Lowered into the Sea'', from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi c. 1597–98, attributed to Mukanda. File:The Death of Inayat Khan (Bod MS. Ouseley Add. 171b f. 4r).jpg, Balchand, ''The Dying Inayat Khan'', c. 1618,
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, Oxford File:Mughal Prince Visits a Holy Man.jpg, Mughal Prince visits a Holy Man File:Prince and Ladies in a Garden, mid-18th century; Mughal.jpg, A Mughal prince and ladies in a garden, 18th century File:Gujjari Ragini.jpg, A young woman playing a Veena to a parakeet, a symbol of her absent lover. 18th-century painting in the provincial Mughal style of Bengal File:A woman holding a Veena, Mughal, India. 18 century.jpg, Female performer with a
tanpura The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of an ...
, 18th century. Color and gold on paper
Freer Gallery of Art F1907.195
File:Ascetic Seated on Leopard's Skin, Provincial Mughal school, India, Opaque watercolor on paper, Late 18th century.tiff, Ascetic Seated on Leopard's Skin, late 18th century File:Mughal Ganjiya Playing Cards, Early 19th century, courtesy the Wovensouls collection.jpg, Mughal Ganjifa
playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
, early 19th century, with miniature paintings – courtesy of the Wovensouls collection File:Box with Scenes of an Emperor Receiving Gifts.jpg, The figural decoration of this example shows a strong relationship to paintings of the 17th century.


See also

*
Arabic miniature Arabic miniatures (Arabic: ٱلْمُنَمْنَمَات ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة, ''Al-Munamnamāt al-ʿArabīyyah'') are small paintings on paper, usually book or manuscript illustrations but also sometimes separate artworks that occupy entir ...
*
Indian painting Indian painting has a very long tradition and history in Indian art, though because of the climatic conditions very few early examples survive.Blurton, 193 The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of prehistoric times, such as the ...
*
Madhubani painting Mithila painting is a style of painting practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. Artists create these paintings using a variety of mediums, including their own fingers, or twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchstick. The paint is creat ...
*
Ottoman miniature Ottoman miniature ( tr, Osmanlı minyatürü) or Turkish miniature was a Turkish art form in the Ottoman Empire, which can be linked to the Persian miniature tradition, as well as strong Chinese artistic influences. It was a part of the Ottoman b ...
*
Rajput painting Rajput painting, also called Rajasthan painting, evolved and flourished in the royal courts of Rajputana in northern India, mainly during the 17th century. Artists trained in the tradition of the Mughal miniature were dispersed from the imperia ...
*
Tanjore painting Thanjavur painting is a classical South Indian painting style, which was inaugurated from the town of Thanjavur (anglicized as Tanjore) in Tamil Nadu. The art form draws its immediate resources and inspiration from way back about 1600 AD, a per ...
*
Western painting The history of Western painting represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from antiquity until the present time. Until the mid-19th century it was primarily concerned with representational and Classical modes of production, after ...
*
Persian miniature A Persian miniature (Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a ''muraqqa''. The ...
*
Islamic miniature Islamic miniatures are small paintings on paper, usually book or manuscript illustrations but also sometimes separate artworks. The earliest examples date from around 1000 AD, with a flourishing of the artform from around 1200 AD. The field is div ...


Notes


References

* Beach, Milo Cleveland, ''Early Mughal painting'', Harvard University Press, 1987, ,
google books
*Crill, Rosemary, and Jariwala, Kapil. ''The Indian Portrait, 1560–1860'',
National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
, 2010, *Eastman, Alvan C. "Mughal painting." College Art Association . 3.2 (1993): 36. Web. 30 Sep. 2013. *"Grove",
Oxford Art Online Oxford Art Online is an Oxford University Press online gateway into art research, which was launched in 2008. It provides access to several online art reference works, including Grove Art Online (originally published in 1996 in a print version, ''T ...
, "Indian sub., §VI, 4(i): Mughal ptg styles, 16th–19th centuries", restricted access. *Harle, J.C., ''The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent'', 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, *Kossak, Steven. (1997)
''Indian court painting, 16th-19th century.''
Metropolitan Museum of Art. *Losty, J. P. Roy, Malini (eds), ''Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire'', 2013, British Library, , 9780712358705 *"Mughal Painting." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Academic Online Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013.Web. 30 Sep 2013. *Titley, Norah M., ''Persian Miniature Painting, and its Influence on the Art of Turkey and India'', 1983, University of Texas Press, 0292764847 * Sarafan, Greg, "Artistic Stylistic Transmission in the Royal Mughal Atelier", Sensible Reason, LLC, 2007
SensibleReason.com


Further reading

*Painting for the Mughal Emperor (The Art of the Book 1560-1660) by ''Susan Stronge'' ()
Fiction in Mughal Miniature Painting
by Prof. P. C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet *Painting the Mughal Experience by ''Som Prakash Verma'', 2005 () *Chitra, Die Tradition der Miniaturmalerei in Rajasthan by K.D. Christof & Renate Haass, 1999 () * *
Artistic Stylistic Transmission in the Royal Mughal Atelier
by Greg Sarafan, Esq., 2007


External links


''Indian Court Painting, 16th-19th Century''
from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Collection: Art of the Mughal Empire
from the
University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
{{Authority control Schools of Indian painting Indian painting Islamic illuminated manuscripts Mughal Empire Pakistani painting Mughal art Islamic arts of the book de:Mogulreich#Malerei