Mughal painting

The Mughal court produced a staggering number of manuscript Paintings During the latter half of the sixteenth century alone, the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-16o5) commissioned more than twenty-five illustrated manu scripts, some containing in excess of two hundred full-page paintings The get gantuan Hainzanama (Book of Hamza), which reportedly took flfttcn years to complete, from circa 1562 to r577, originally comprised as many as fourteen hundred large-scale folios, each bearing paintings on one or both of its sides.'

This essay lays out the premise for the exhibition ‘Bagh-e Hind’ that is conceptualised around the olfactory landscape of Mughal-era South Asia. The first of its kind, this multidisciplinary exhibition is the result of a collaboration between art critic and perfumer Bharti Lalwani (India) and historian and literary scholar Nicolas Roth (USA). Roth, a specialist in Mughal-era horticultural writings, made deliberate selections of five paintings depicting garden scenes from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for Lalwani to translate into fragrance and Edible Perfume™ .

‫ﻟﻨﺪن‬ ‫آﻟﺒﺮت‬ ‫و‬ ‫وﻳﻜﺘﻮرﻳﺎ‬ ‫ﻣﻮزة‬ ‫در‬ ‫ﻣﺤﻔﻮظ‬ (  ‫ﻣﻌﻤ‬ ‫زﻫﺮا‬ ‫ﺮ‬ * ‫ﭼﻜﻴﺪه‬ ‫ﺳﻠﺴﻠﻪ‬ ‫ﻣﻴﺎن‬ ‫در‬ ‫درﺧﺸﺎن‬ ‫ﻣﻐﻮل‬ ‫ﻋﺼﺮ‬ ‫ﻣﺴﻠﻤﺎن،‬ ‫ﻫﺎي‬ ‫ﻣﺤﺴـﻮب‬ ‫اﺳـﻼﻣﻲ‬ ‫ﻫﻨـﺪ‬ ‫ﻓﺮﻫﻨﮕﻲ‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﻫﻨﺮي‬ ‫دوران‬ ‫ﺗﺮﻳﻦ‬ ‫ﻣﻲ‬ ‫ﺷﻮد‬ . ‫ﭘﻴﺸﺮﻓﺖ‬ ‫ﺣﻴﺚ‬ ‫از‬ ‫ﭼﻪ‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﺳﻴﺎﺳﻲ‬ ‫ﻟﺤﺎظ‬ ‫از‬ ‫ﭼﻪ‬ ‫دوران‬ ‫اﻳﻦ‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻤـﺎ‬ ‫از‬ ‫ﺣﻤﺎﻳـﺖ‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﻓﻨـﻮن‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﻋﻠـﻮم‬ ‫ﻫﺎي‬ ‫زﻣﺎن‬ ‫از‬ ‫آﻧﻬﺎ،‬ ‫ﺳﺮداران‬ ‫و‬ ‫اﻣﺮا‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﭘﺎدﺷﺎﻫﺎن‬ ‫ﻃﺮف‬ ‫از‬ ‫ﻫﻨﺮ،‬ ‫ﺻﺎﺣﺒﺎن‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﻓﻀﻼ‬ ‫ﻣﺸـﺨﺺ‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﻣﻤﺘـﺎزﺗﺮ‬ ‫دﻳﮕـﺮ‬ ‫ﻫﺎي‬ ‫ﺗـﺮ‬ ‫اﺳﺖ‬ . ‫ﻗﺎﻋﺪه‬ ‫اﻳﻦ‬ ‫از‬ ‫ﻧﻴﺰ‬ ‫ﻧﻘﺎﺷﻲ‬ ‫ﻧﺒﻮد؛‬ ‫ﻣﺴﺘﺜﻨﻲ‬ ‫ﻣﻲ‬ ‫را‬ ‫اﻛﺒﺮﺷﺎه‬ ‫ﺣﻜﻮﻣﺖ‬ ‫ﻋﺼﺮ‬ ‫ﻣﻐﻮل‬ ‫ﻧﻘﺎﺷﻲ‬ ‫آﻏﺎزﻳﻦ‬ ‫ﻧﻘﻄﺔ‬ ‫ﺗﻮان‬ ‫داﻧﺴﺖ‬ . ‫اﻳﻦ‬ ‫از‬ ‫داﺷﺖ؛‬ ‫ﺑﺴﻴﺎري‬ ‫ﻋﻼﻗﺔ‬ ‫ﻣﺼﻮر‬ ‫ﻧﺴﺦ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ‬ ‫اﻛﺒﺮﺷﺎه‬ ‫ﻧﺴﺨﻪ‬ ‫رو‬ ‫درﺑـﺎر‬ ‫ﻧﻘﺎﺷﻲ‬ ‫ﻛﺎرﮔﺎه‬ ‫در‬ ‫ﺑﺴﻴﺎري‬ ‫ﻫﺎي‬ ‫ﺷﺪﻧﺪ‬ ‫ﻣﺼﻮر‬ ‫وي،‬ . ‫ﻧﺴﺨﺔ‬ ‫اﻛﺒﺮﻧﺎﻣﻪ‬ ‫ﺧﻮاﻫـﺪ‬ ‫ﭘﺮداﺧﺘـﻪ‬ ‫آن‬ ‫ﻣﻌﺮﻓﻲ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ‬ ‫ﻣﻘﺎﻟﻪ‬ ‫اﻳﻦ‬ ‫در‬ ‫ﻛﻪ‬ ‫اﺳﺖ‬ ‫ﻣﻮارد‬ ‫اﻳﻦ‬ ‫از‬ ‫ﻳﻜﻲ‬ ‫ﺷﺪ‬ .

Die Josephsgeschichte ist in den persischen, indischen worden. Die Bilder gehen nicht nur auf eine gemeinsame †berlieferung in Torah und Altem Testament zurŸck, die von zahlreichen jŸdischen und muslimischen Tradenten weiter ausgeschmŸckt wurde. 1 Vielmehr weisen Bildkultur auf. So sind in Rembrandts Josephsbildern Motivanleihen aus persischen und indisch-moghulischen Miniaturen beruhen. Da Rembrandts Orientvorstellung in besonderem Ma § durch Miniaturen aus dem Moghulreich geprŠgt wurde, soll im Gegenzug auch die nahezu zeitgleiche Rezeption europŠischer Elemente in der Moghulmalerei nŠher betrachtet werden. Die Moghuln haben zwar der Josephsgeschichte keinen besonderen Stellenwert beigemessen, aber sehr wohl der Tobiasgeschichte und vielen neutestamentlichen Themen. Somit werden hier insbesondere moghulische Kompositionen nach christlichen Stichen von Maria mit dem Jesusknaben, Evangelisten und Engeln vorgestellt, um abschlie- §end die unterschiedlichen Strategien Rembrandts und der Moghulmaler bei der Rezeption der jeweils anderen Bildtradition herauszustellen. Rembrandts Vorliebe, seinen biblischen Figuren durch orientalische KostŸmierung Ð Turbane mit Fe-derschmuck, brokatbesetzte MŠntel und prachtvoll gewebte SchŠrpen Ð ein nahšstliches Kolorit zu verleihen, ist vielfach untersucht worden. Kristin Bahre weist darauf hin, dass Rembrandt und seine Zeitgenossen orientalisierende Motive in biblischen Historien vor allem aus zwei GrŸnden einsetzten: zum einen, um der ãForderung der Kunsttheorie nach historisch angemessener Darstellung eines Themas gerecht zu werdenÒ, und zum anderen, um durch ihr ãextravagantes Erscheinungsbild [É] den Blick des Betrachters zu lenkenÒ. 2 Rembrandts Vorgehensweise hebt sich aber insofern von der seiner Malerkollegen ab, als er die orientalisierenden KostŸmelemente offenbar in grš §erem Umfang von realen Kleidern, Waffen und TrachtenbŸchern sowie von indischen Moghulminiaturen ableitete. Somit entstammen die Orientalisierungen in seinem Werk also nicht allein seiner Fantasie oder dem Motivschatz der Bildtradition. 3 Einige der von Rembrandt verwendeten Artefakte und Miniaturen sind im Konkursinventar seiner Sammlung von 1656 dokumentiert. Dort sind ãein dito (Buch) voll merkwŸrdiger Miniaturzeichnungen, au §er verschiedenen Holzschnitten und Kupferstichen von allerhand TrachtenÒ 4 neben weiteren als ãostindischÒ, ãindischÒ, ãindianischÒ (oder ãindonesischÒ) 5 und ãtŸrkischÒ bezeichneten Dosen, Tassen, Waffen und KostŸmen an-gefŸhrt. 6

‬ ‫وﻝﻰ‬ ‫اﷲ‬ ‫و‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﻤﺤﻤد‬ ‫رﺠب‬ ‫أ.د/اﺤﻤد‬ ‫رز‬ ‫ق‬ ‫اﻵﺜﺎر‬ ‫ﻗﺴم‬ ‫رﺌﻴس‬ ‫اﻹﺴﻼﻤﻴﺔ‬ -‫اﻵﺜﺎر‬ ‫ﻜﻠﻴﺔ‬ -‫اﻝﻘﺎﻫرة‬ ‫ﺠﺎﻤﻌﺔ‬ ‫و‬ ‫اﻝﻤؤﺘﻤر‬ ‫ﻋﺎم‬ ‫ﻤﻘرر‬ . ‫اﻝﺤداد‬ ‫إﺴﻤﺎﻋﻴل‬ ‫ﺤﻤزة‬ ‫ﻤﺤﻤد‬ / ‫أ.د‬ ‫اﻵﺜﺎر‬ ‫ﻜﻠﻴﺔ‬ ‫ﻋﻤﻴد‬ -‫اﻝﻘﺎﻫرة‬ ‫ﺠﺎﻤﻌﺔ‬ ‫و‬ ‫اﻝﻤؤﺘﻤر‬ ‫رﺌﻴس‬ .

From the very earliest times, a range of stylistic possibilities was open to Indian painters. Divine Visions, Earthly Pleasures highlights many appealing styles and trends found in this rich tradition. The Indian artist constantly plays with various, even conflicting approaches, such as realism and abstraction, often within a single work. Perhaps confusing at first, upon closer inspection this layering of artistic conventions can be subtle and sophisticated. The play of line and color, sometimes strikingly juxtaposed, illustrates a virtuosity not often found in other artistic traditions. The Indian artist uses a variety of conventions to create space, as well, often employing a number of different visual points of view in a single work. The architecture can recede into space in one part of a painting and appear as flat, two-dimensional space in another.

Paintings titles: Folio 1 recto Shamsa, the opening folio of the manuscript includes a shamsa (sunburst), the symbol of the divine and the emperor signifying the kingly sovereignty and the divine mandate of heaven to rule. The shamsa includes the title of the manuscript, followed by folios of invocations, a sarlawh (folio 1 verso), and Qasvini's explanation on the format of the manuscript. Folio 27 verso, royal enthronement of hazrat-i jinat makan Jahangir Padshah and distribution of the gift of pearls to hazrat-i Shah Jahan which indicates the reign of Shah Jahan's father Jahangir Padshah. Hazrat translated as majesty and jenat makan as destined in heaven. Folio 33 verso: likeness of the hunt and stabbing the lion by hazrat-i sahib qaran-i sani Shah Jahan the warrior. Sahib qaran is the title used for kings beginning the Timurid rules of Persia. It has been used as a title for rulers with thirty or more years of rule or the rulers whose horoscope at birth coincided with times of happy fortunes. Thus, Sahib qaran meaning is similar to French Lamaitre de lafortune. Sahib qaran al-avval, the first, was considered to be Timur (Tamerlane) and Sahib qaran al-sani, the second, was the title of Shah Jahan, since the Mughals proudly traced their origin to Tamerlane; Shah Jahan was juxtaposed with Tamerlane. Folio 42 recto: likeness of hazrat-jinat makan Jahangir Padshah and presentation of Alam-makan the elephant of Rana Amar Singh. Elephant in Mughal court was considered the great beast that signified the splendor of the kingdom, thus, elephants defined the royal family's self-image and their presentations in royal memoirs indicate their importance as the symbol of power and royalty. The elephants also were given names like 'Placed in the Worldly Abode' or 'Mountain of Gold' etc. by the masters.

Please note that the essay was commissioned at two weeks' notice (!), and the entries are not by me, but drawn from the Aga Khan databases. Nevertheless, I am grateful that I was given an opportunity to write about issues I have long been researching.

In the partial fulfilment of the B.Arch. (2 nd Year SFS) degree program, this is to certify that 'SHOHIF KHAN' has worked on the Dissertation Report entitled "TAJ UL MASAJID, BHOPAL" under my guidance and supervision. Declaration I, SHOHIF KHAN hereby declare that the Dissertation entitled "TAJ UL MASAJID, BHOPAL" submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Architecture (2 nd Year) is my original research work and that the information taken from

The Mughal Hamzanama manuscript, produced at the Emperor Akbar's imperial painting atelier in the mid to late sixteenth century, is often cited as one of the Mughals' most ambitious manuscript projects. Unlike most Mughal manuscripts, which are comprised solely of paper folios, the Hamzanama illustrations are painted directly on a plain weave cotton substrate, with several intermediary layers of cotton and paper forming each complete folio. Past studies of the Hamzanama have focused almost exclusively on the stylistic qualities of the paintings, with little attention paid to these unique material qualities. In this paper, I argue that these materials and techniques link the Hamzanama to earlier traditions of Jain and Islamic painted cotton textiles on the Indian subcontinent, including ritual banners and talismanic shirts, which further substantiates earlier hypotheses that this manuscript served an oral, performative function at the court. Further, use of this technique implies that local Indic artists may have had more substantive influence at the atelier than previously thought.

From the publisher's website: This beautiful collection brings together passages from the renowned stories, poems, dramas, and myths of South Asian literature, including the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. Drawing on the translations published by the Clay Sanskrit Library, the passages feature episodes from the adventures of young Krishna, the life of Prince Rama and Hindu foundational myths, the life of the Buddha, as well as Buddhist and Jaina birth stories.

Pairing key excerpts from these wonderful Sanskrit texts with exquisite illustrations from the Bodleian Library’s rich manuscript collections, the book includes images of birch-bark and palm-leaf manuscripts, vibrant Mughal miniatures, early printed books, sculptures, watercolour paintings and even early photograph albums.

Each extract is presented in both English translation and Sanskrit in Devanagari script and accompanied by a commentary on the literature and related books and artworks. The collection is organised by geographical region and includes sections on the Himalayas, North India, Central and South India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Central and East Asia, and the Middle East and Europe.

This is the perfect introduction for anyone interested in Sanskrit literature and the manuscript art of South Asia – and beyond.

Jacket and TOC of a collective  volume edited by Ebba Koch and Ali Anooshahr. 14 eminent scholars with varied historical interests -political, social, economic, legal, literary and art-historical  present for the first time a multidisciplinary analysis of Jahangir and Shah Jahan: C. Lefèvre, A. Kollatz, A. Anooshahr, M. Faruqui, M. Chida-Razvi, H. Joshi, St. Popp, R. Siebertz, S. Sharma, Ch. Shekhar, E. Koch, S. Stronge, J. P. Losty and R. Mc Chesney.

The transculturation that happened during the sixteenth century in Pre-Modern India is best exemplified at the Mughal emperor Akbar’s atelier. The atelier comprised of around one hundred artists who were responsible for the highly praised miniature paintings from the illustrated manuscripts of Ḥamzanāma, Baburnāma, Akbarnāma and Razmnāma etc. Today, these illustrations are admired for the stylization and abstraction of form, handling of space within the picture plane, iconography, color palette or simply for giving new life and meaning to the stories they illustrate, in the socio-cultural milieu of sixteenth century India. These very qualities make them exemplary; worthy of duplication in order to understand and learn the sensibilities of  traditional Mughal miniature painting that has enchanted the global art world for the past several decades. What is missing in this most popular art history narrative is the intellectual diversity that prevailed within this group of artists along with tolerance and acceptance of each others ideals of aesthetics that were coming from various belief systems the artists belonged to. Today, these paintings are celebrated under the title of ‘Islamic Art’ but the tolerance for various epistemological streams that they exhibit is profoundly disregarded.

This paper discusses the selected paintings narrating the Hindu epic Ramayana produced during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) in the sixteenth century and during the reign of the Rajput ruler, Rana Jagat Singh of Mewar (r. 1628-52) in the seventeenth century.
The paper specifically examines the manuscript production and painting tradition of Akbar’s court and aims to demonstrate the cosmopolitan court culture of Akbar, which had appropriated various painting traditions from Timurid and Persian courts, as well as absorbed various Indic painting traditions. Further, Akbar’s interest in understanding pre-Islamic Indic traditions led to the development of the illustrated manuscripts of the Hindu epics. Secondly, the paper aims to examine the Mughal appropriation on the Rajput painting. The paper argues that although Mughal painting had an impact on Rajput painting, the Mewari Ramayana, when compared to earlier Mughal Ramayanas retained its distinct style fusing Mughal and early Buddhist, Hindu and Jain narrative techniques.

The Paper deals with the unique reception of Mughal art at the Habsburg court at Vienna in the context of the "Chinoiserie fashion" of the 18th century. In the 1760s Empress Maria Theresa (rul. 1740-80) had one of her small audience rooms in Schönbrunn Palace decorated with collages of miniatures of the Mughal Empire set into rocaille shaped frames, and to complete the scheme,  the anonymous Austrian artist  added paintings of his own in the zone of the ceiling in which he mimicked and paraphrased scenes of Mughal court life.

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A characteristic Indo-Islamic-Persian style that flourished on the Indian subcontinent during the
Mughal Empire (1526–1857). This new style combined elements of Islamic art and architecture,
which had been introduced to India during the Delhi Sultanate (1192–1398) and had produced
great monuments such as the Qutb Minar, with features of Persian art and architecture. Mughal
monuments are found chiefly in N India, but there are also many remains in Pakistan.

This essay looks at the miniature paintings commissioned in the imperial atelier during the reign of Emperor Akbar, and attempts to look at the social, cultural and political undercurrents that make these paintings more culturally dynamic, in contrast to the rigid and formalized of Mughal paintings which were to develop under his successors. This essay also attempts to look at the personality of Emperor Akbar and how his personality, preferences, tastes and ambition were manifested in the paintings that he commissioned.

ISBN: 978-9382381-13-6


This essay examines Asian/Eurasian prenational cosmopolitanism and aesthetics of circulation that bifurcate into discrete histories in Europe and South Asia, Mughal painting as a node of conjunction and vector of circulation, and the paradoxical element  of floralism and medieval masculinity, reexamines both the secular and the modern, proposes        a lineage for them in the (un)lived potentials of these histories, and attempts to situate Nilima Sheikh's work in a contemporaneity that eludes standard periodization.

The essay also sees Nilima Sheikh's work in the context of the women's movement, the problematics and projects of feminist figuration in the thematization of affect, experience. domestic labour and the female body as well as beauty, violence and national belonging; and the joint implication of artisanal modes and feminist collectivities in matters of self-staging, signature and self-possession. The historical, contemporary and aesthetic implications of Nilima's formal devices (especially stencils) and her grammar of reference that loops into aesthetics of circulation and intensities of mediation, together compose a resonant affective constellation.