Mughal Miniature Tradition

History of the Imperial Legacy

 The Great Mughal
Emperor Lifetime Reign Site Patronization
Babur 1483- 1530 1526–1530 No known painting patron
Founder of the Empire 2nd quarter of 16th cent.

Humayun 1508- 1556 1530–1540 Paintings known Paintings by Persian masters in

Patron of proto- 1555–1556 are from Kabul Safavid style
Mughal Style Middle of 16th cent.
Akbar 1542- 1605 1556–1605 First in Agra and Flourishing of the Mughal Style,
Founder of the 2nd half of 16th cent. later in Lahore combined Persian, indian and later
Mughal Style European

Jahangir 1569-1627 1605–1627 Agra Naturalism, Portraiture

1st quarter of 17th cent.

Shah Jahan 1592-1666 1627–1658 Delhi or Mainly architecture and decorative art
2nd quarter of 17th cent. Shajahanabad

Aurangzeb 1618- 1707 1658–1707 Following Shah Jahani and then

2nd half of 17th cent orthodoxy set in
 Introduction to Mughal Miniature Tradition:
• Mughal painting, also spelled Mogul, style of painting, confined mainly to book illustration and
the production of individual miniatures, that evolved in India during the reigns of the Mughal
emperors (16th–18th century).
• In its initial phases it showed some indebtedness to the Ṣafavid school of Persian painting but
rapidly moved away from Persian ideals.
• Probably the earliest example of Mughal painting is the illustrated folktale Tuti-nameh (“Tales of a
Parrot”) now at the Cleveland (Ohio) Museum of Art.
• Mughal painting was essentially a court art; it developed under the patronage of the ruling Mughal
emperors and began to decline when the rulers lost interest.
• The subjects treated were generally secular, consisting of illustrations to historical works and
Persian and Indian literature, portraits of the emperor and his court, studies of natural life,
and genre scenes.
• The various stylistic influences of Mughal School are East Asian or Chinese and Japanese, Hindu,
Jain, Persian and European.
• The technique of Mughal painting, in the initial phases, often involved a team of artists, one
determining the composition, a second doing the actual colouring, and perhaps a specialist in
Genealogy of Mughal Paintings:
Pre-Mughal
One sub-style is unchanged continuation of
Jain tradition
 Loosening of hiertic scale to fit non-religious,
romantic themes
 Swift wiry outlines, angular features and
simplified forms
 E.g., Laur-Chanda (1450-70) (2 series from
probably Delhi-Jaunpur belt)
Other sub-style the Persian Turkman
idiom of 15th cent., Bukhara and Shirazi
style
 Idealized and lyrical
 E.g. Nimatnama (Book of Delicacies),
Miftah-al-Fuzala (Glossary of Rare Words) and
Sadi’s Bustan (The Bustan)
Chaurapanchasika Style similar to Jain,
without the further eye
 Wide-open staring eye, with eye fixed in the
center, pointed nose, red lips
 Vigour, also seen in brushwork and sensuous
charm
 Lines of uniform thickness, steely strength
 Proportions between human and landscape
disregarded
 Architecture like painted cut-outs
 Exciting colour contrasts
 Curvaceous female torsos: tight blouse, patterned
skirt, diaphanous odhnis ending in angles
 Fine detailing of creepers
 E.g., Ragamala (Delhi-Jaunpur), Bhagwat Puran,
Devi Mahatmya (Kangra)
Maina addressing the master of
the caravan . Manuscript Laur
chanda . Circa 1450-1475 . Pre-
Mughal . Gouache on paper ,
approx. 18 x 11 cm ( Bibl . " The
Indian miniature" , Anjan
Chakraverty ed Charles
Moreau / Roli & Janssen, 2005.
Pages 24-25 . ) Bharat Kala
Bhavan , Varanasi 226.

The Heroin Elopes. Laur

Chanda (or Chandayana) of
Mulla Da'ud. India before
the Mughals, probably
Delhi-Jaunpur (Uttar
Pradesh), 1450-75. Bharat
kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi.
Preparation of wada for the Sultan Ghiyath al-Din, the Sultan of
Mandu. Samosas being prepared. Small inscription 'sanbusa',
samosa. Ghiyath Shahi seated on a stool in a garden is being
offered a dish, possibly of samosas. A cook is frying them over
a stove, while another is placing them on a round dish. Opaque
watercolour. Sultanate style.

Title of Work: The Ni'matnama-i Nasir al-Din Shah. A

manuscript on Indian cookery and the preparation of
sweetmeats, spices etc., Mandu, 1495-1505.
50 miniatures in all.

In short called Nimatnama.

Another manuscript of this style is

Miftah-al-Fuzala (A Glossary of Rare Words)
Enjoyment of betel. Ghiyath Shahi is kneeling on a
stool, putting a betel chew in his mouth. There is a
night sky, and he is wearing white night clothes. Out
of doors with a background of heavy vegetation. A
woman attendant is holding a gold bowl of betel.
Wine flask in the foreground. A dark girl kneeling
before Ghiyath Shahi is offering him another betel
chew.
Aslo from Nimatnama.
Opaque watercolour.
Sultanate style.
 • Bhagawat Puran rendered in
Chaurapanchasika Style
• More a one event is transpire in a
single plane, which is broken up
by a simple architectural structure
and three different colored
backgrounds.
• These devices isolate the compact
groups of female onlookers, whose
large eyes, blockish profiles,
curvaceous bodies, and richly
patterned skirts are constant
features of this style.
• The rhythmic poses of the repeated
figures, the vigorous
draftsmanship, and the
juxtaposition of solid patches of
Krishna Carried Off by the Whirlwind Demon, from a Bhagavata bright color combine to produce an
Purana. C.1520-30 image of enormous visual appeal
and immediacy.
 ·Another leaf from dispersed manuscript
of the Bhagvata Puran of 1520 represents
indegenous Indian tradition as its best
·Single plane broken up by simple
architectural structure and different
coloured backgrounds, spaces separated
with a tree.
·Notice the landscape with flowering
plants
·The bright skyline= silver border of
clouds.
·Swan is the Brahma’s vahana

Brahma Prostrates Himself Before Krishna.Unknown Artist.

Delhi/Agra, ca.1520-1530
 ·Representation of animal in
Chaurapanchasika Style
·Theatrical presentation of war
·The usual use of primary colours-
red, blue, yellow, black and white
·The style is a extensively used
narrative tradition

Krishna Battles The Armies of the Demon

Naraka.Unknown Artist.Delhi/Agra, ca.1520-1530
The Gopis Beseech Krishna
to Return Their Clothing:
Page from the Dispersed
"Isarda" Bhagavata Purana
(Ancient Stories of Lord
Vishnu), ca. 1560–65

• Hieratic scale, Krishna

the biggest, then the
Gopis and comparatively
smaller plants and
animals
Brief note on Persian Paintings
Timurid Dynasty:
 Timur Son of Muhammad Taraghai 1336 –
1405 (r.1370-1405)
 Shahrukh Mirza Son of Timur 1377 – 1447 (r. 1405- 1447)

 Ulugh Beg Son of Shahrukh Mirza 1394 – 27 (r. 1447-1449)

 Division of the Timurid Empire (1449–1507)

 Husayn Mirza Bayqara (r. 1469 – 1506 Herat)
Last ruler of the Empire

Timur enthroned with his descendants from Babur to Jahangir,

Hashim

A portrait of the great conquerer Timur sitting on his throne, with

the Mughal emperors Humayun, Jahangir, Babur, Akbar, the poet
Sa’di on the left and an attendant on the right.
Signed by Hashim, c. 1620.
 Sadi Timur
a poet
Musician

Babur
with a book
Humayun

Akbar Jahangir
• Detail
• Historically impossible painting
• A highly political statement made by Jahangir, the patron
 Brief outline of Persian Paintings as the basis of the Mughal Style
• The art of Persian miniature reached its peak mainly during the Mongol and Timurid periods (13th - 16th Century).
• Mongolian rulers of Iran instilled the cult of Chinese painting and brought with them a great number of Chinese
artisans. Paper itself, reached Persia from China in 753 AD.
• Hence, the Chinese influence is very strong.
• In 1393 Timur took control over Shiraz from the Muzzafarids.
• Timur fixed his capital in Samarqand around 1370 and died in 1405 when Shah Rukh took over and moved the capital
to Herat.
• A style of Shiraz Timurid painting develop with figures that are stiff with large round heads,
and an almost naive quality.
• This style culminates in the Shahnama commissioned by Ibrahim Sultan in 1433.
• After Ibrahim Sultan’s death in 1435, Shiraz was the center for manuscript export until the first century of Safavid rule.
• Two distinct styles can be said to dominate Persia in the first half of the 15th century.
 One: The style in Shiraz was vigorous and powerful but not technically sound.
 Two: The style in Herat was brilliant, academic and highly finished.
• In 1453 the Turkmans took Shiraz and established a mixed style of painting combining the styles
of Herat and Shiraz in second half of 15th century.
Shiraz School, "Shahnamah", Ferdowsi
Strong, vigorous, not technically perfect

Tabriz School, "Pandj Gandj", Amir Khosrow Dehlavi

Herat School, "Khamseh", Nezami

Academic tradition
 Safavid Dynasty
• A new national revival along with stylist development was lead
(1501–1786) by Shah Isma’il e-Safavi (r.1501-1524) the founder of Safavid
dynasty and his son Shah Tahmasp I (r.1524-1576).
 Ismail I 1487–1524 • The great Safavid painter Sultan Muhammud trained in this
Herat – Shiraz style that merged into the Shiraz Safavid style
in the first quarter of the 16th century.
• Tahmasp named Bihzad the head of the Tabriz Royal Library.
• The Persin style of painting was mixed with the exuberance
and vibrant brushwork of the Turkmans and a cool and logical
style of Bihzad.
• The 15th c. Timurid style is a tradition that will eventually make
its way into Afghanistan first and then to India.
• Trademarks of Iranian painting at this time are soft and
sensuous compositions, increasing romanticism, and pure
 Tahmasp I 1514–1576
(Shia) mineral color with very little (if any) tonal effects.
 • Paintings by the master-
painter of Herat,
Kamaluddin Bihzad (died
1535/36), who worked at
the courts of the Timurid
Husayn Bayqara (ruled
1469-1506) and the
Safavid Shah Tahmasp
(ruled 1524-1576).
• Bihzad marks the passage
from Mongol and Timurid
to Safavid finery.
• In his works there
appeared a unique
attention to portraying not
just people but what
surrounded them in their
daily lives. Behzad's
paintings brought
miniature to its genuine
bloom.

Iskandar with the seven sages, dated AH 900 (1495/95) Battle between Iskandar and Dara from the Iskandarnāmah
• Style of Bihzad
• Elongated or vertical format
• Geometric architecture and
decorative patterns
• Tilted three quarter profile
• Range of colours
• Soft, delicate expressions
• Akbarnama’s battle scene
has resemblance
• Lack of interconnections
between figures
• Poetic and romanticized
Recap of Persian Painting:
• Persian painting in Safavid Iran is an amalgam of different schools with no definite
center.
• Iranian painting, generally speaking, is a product of a cosmopolitan culture of
Islam.
• The painter Bihzad taught a whole generation of painters.
• Bihzad’s tradition was carried on by the painters like Muhammud Dost, Mir Sayyid
Ali, Abdus Sammad, and Mir Mussavir (all who came with Humayun to India).
• The Persian painting owes a debt to China and closer to home, the Mongols and
Timurids.
• The word Mughal is the Persian word for Mongol.
• This connection will be brought up again with the introduction of the first Mughal
emperor in India: Babur.
• It has been said that painting in China and Japan can be characterized by the line,
Persian by line and color, and India by pure color.
 Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur (1483-1530)
• Babur was born in 1483 in Central Asia as Zahiruddin Muhammad and
surnamed Babur (the Tiger).
• He is a descendant of Timur and Chengiz Khan (Mongols and Timurid lineage)
and noted bibliophile.
• Babur’s father, Omar Shaykh, was a man of letters and this interest becomes a
hallmark of Babur’s reign as well as what is to become the Mughal School.
• Originally from Ferghana in Central Asia, Babur conquered (and lost) Samarkand
and Kabul and went on to become the ruler of Hindustan after he defeated
Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat (1525).
• After being driven out of Samarkand in 1501 by the Uzbek Shaibanids, he
ultimately sought greener pastures, first in Kabul and then in northern India,
where his descendants were the Moghul (Mughal) dynasty ruling in Delhi until
1858. (From Baburnama)
• In April 1526, Babur made series of thrusts from Kabul into India, entered
Delhi and defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodi.
• In May that same year Babur conquered Agra.
Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire
• Bubur's subsequent victory in alliance of Rajput kings, further pressed deeper (1530) representing approximately 1605
into Gangetic valley. He led his army to victory over Rana Sangram Singh and Museum of Islamic Art (Berlin )
in 1529 defeated the Afghans in Behar and Bengal.
The "Memoirs of Babur" or Baburnama or Vaqiat-e-Babri
are the first--and until relatively recent times, the only--true autobiography in Islamic literature.“

It is the tale of the prince's struggle first to assert and defend his claim to the throne of Samarkand and
the region of the Fergana Valley.
Also contains insightful accounts of flora and fauna with meticulous details.
He knew about Bihzad and another celebrated contemporary Shah Muzaffar.

• In his memoirs Babur alludes to various ancestors ability in writing and painting, and comments
succinctly on the skill of a few professional Persian artists.
• These scattered observations testify to Babur's awareness of painting as a mark of cultivation, but
furnish no clue as to the amount or nature of painting sponsored by Babur himself.

However, no paintings survive from the reign of Babur.

• Except for Surat-Khana or a gallery of painted walls between 1504-1519
• Babur had no time to lay the machinery of government or any administration. His short reign lasted
from 1526-30.
 Nasir ud-din Muhammad
Humayun (1508 – 1556)
• Humayun ruled from 1530-40 and 1555-56
• Babur’s small but impressive foothold established in India was handed
to his son Humayun (23 years old at the time) while his three other
sons Hindal, Askari, and Kamran were left in jealousy.
• Humayun was a less able ruler than Babur (from virtually every text
I’ve come across) with a heavy opium habit (rivaled only Jahangir’s lust
for alcohol).
• He was driven out of Agra in 1539 by the Afghan chief Sher Khan (who
assumed the title Sher Shah). Sher Shah ruled briefly from 1538-1540.
• Around 1542 bit before this, Humayun was forced out of India and
took refuge under the Safavid ruler Tahmasp I.
• Even during his exile, he is known to carry his library on camel back.
• Temporarily ousted from his throne by rebellious forces, Humayun
Painting of Humayun, c. 1700
spent the years 1542-45 in exile in Persia, as the guest of the Safavid
Shah Tahmasp (reigned 1524-76), before reclaiming his imperial throne
in Delhi in 1555.
• Shah Tahmasp, unlike Humayun's own family, actually
welcomed the Mughal, and treated him as a royal visitor.
Note, Humayun’s three brothers were jealous and had
betrayed him.
• In Persian, Humayun went sightseeing and acquainted
himself with the arts of the Safavid court, as well as the
gardens of Khurasan and he was simply amazed at the
Persian artwork and architecture.
• He was also introduced to the work of the Persian
miniaturists, and Kamaleddin Behzad had two of his pupils
join Humayun in his court.
• After a lengthy journey from Herat the two Shahs met in
Qazvin where a large feast and parties were held for the
event.
• The meeting of the two monarchs is depicted in a famous
wall-painting in the Chehel Sotoun (Forty Columns) palace
in Esfahan.
• Humayun was amazed at Persian artists’ works and asked if
they would work for him if he were to regain the sovereignty
of Hindustan: they agreed.
Humayun and Tahmasp meet, 1543, Qazvin, the
• Humayun made an agreement with the troubled Safavid Safavids. Currently in London Library.
court: If Tahmasp I would supply the troops, Humayun
 Humayun, The founder father of Mughal Style
• The conceptual framework for the painting ideals was laid by Babur and through the transition of the Kabul workshop
under Humayun, the Imperial Mughal painting ultimately manifested under Akbar.
• As Humayun ‘borrowed’ troops from Tahmasp he was also given his choice of painters from the royal court (of which he
eventually took to Kabul and established a workshop there). Humayun promised to send Shah Tahmasp 1000 Tomans if he
permitted Mir Mussavir to go to India.
• Despite the exchange, due to Tahmasp’s increasingly religious and giving up patronage Humayun brought chose the
following painters to India: Mir Sayyid Ali of Tabriz and Abdus Sammad of Shiraz arrived on Kabul in 1549, also came
(father) Mir Mussavir and Muhammud Dost (a latter arrived late). Abdus Samad became a close friend of Humayun and
later conferred the title Shirin Qalam or the sweet pen to the former. These painters were well established, Imperial
painters who studied under Bihzad in Safavid Iran. Being from the court of Tahmasp, these Persian artists brought in the
‘familial inclination’ (from Persia) of exacting naturalness, painting from life, and close observation of everyday
events.
• In 1545 Humayun succeeded in capturing Qandahar and re-established himself in Kabul.
• Here, in Kabul, the interim capital for 1945-55, a proto-Mughal style had developed look exactly like the paintings
from Tabriz, except for the Mughal costumes.
• This style was directly affected by the temperament of the artists chosen by Humayun.
 • Before returning Delhi, in 1555, Humayun
recruited some of Tahmasp's artists to his service
in India.
• Mir Sayyid Ali, one of the master-painters who
accepted his invitation, arrived in Kabul in 1549.
• He is thought to have executed this painting.
• Originally, the painting probably showed
Humayun relaxing in a garden pavilion, attended
by guests, servants and entertainers.
• This was a typical subject of royal paintings in
Persia. Many of the original figures wear the V-
shaped turban which Humayun himself had
designed, believing that the number seven
(written as V in Arabic numerals) would prove
lucky for him.

Humayun's garden party, a painting in gouache and gold on cotton Mughal dynasty, about AD 1550-55,
From Kabul, modern Afghanistan.
 • A scene of the bustle of activities in a schoolyard, Mir Sayyid' Ali
uses a patchwork of brilliantly colored areas to organize the
composition in a manner typical of Persian painting.
• Together with the elaborate patterns of tiles, carpets, and mats,
this geometric framework discourages any attempt to read the
painting as a single, spatially unified entity.
• Instead, it invites the viewer to meander among the painting's
many discrete passages, pausing to dwell on the exquisite detail
and the abstract beauty of color and line in each.
• The figures, who appear first as yet another set of colored shapes,
also contribute to the compartmentalization of the scene by their
arrangement in simple pairs or in small groups united by glance
and gesture.
• Through his witty observation of the foibles of human behavior,
Mir Sayyid 'All breathed new life into the well-established types
of Persian painting, and encouraged viewers to delight in
anecdotes such as the preparation of paper, the copying of
lessons, or the punishment of a wayward pupil.

Folio from an album; A school scene

circa 1540, Mir Sayyid Ali, Safavid period. Tabriz, Iran. Freer Sackler Collection
• Detail
• Detail
• Detail
Humayun and his brothers in a landscape. By Ustad Dust
Muhammad; Persian/Mughal, ca. 1550. From the Jahangir
Album