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Lot Essay
The Mughal Emperor Akbar (r.1556-1605) commissioned his prime minister and close friend, Abu’l Fazl, to write a history of his reign in the spring of 1589. The completed text known as the Akbarnama (The Book of Akbar) was presented to the Emperor in 1598, nearly ten years later. There are two known illustrated copies of the Akbarnama dating from the reign of Akbar. The first copy in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum is in larger format and can be dated to circa 1590-95. The dating suggests that work on this illustrated copy had begun even before the final text of the Akbarnama had been presented to Akbar.
A slightly later copy, by the famous calligrapher, Maulana Muhammad Husain Kashmiri, known as Zarrin Qalam, is divided between the British Library (OR.12988) and the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. Volume I of Abu’l Fazl’s text which is in the British Library deals with the history of the Mughals up to Akbar and Akbar’s childhood, covering events up to the death of Humayun in 1556. The Chester Beatty Library has volumes II and part of III which are concerned with Akbar’s reign itself, beginning with Akbar’s coronation and ending in 1579. It is uncertain whether the final portion of the manuscript is missing or was never completed. The British Library has 163 folios with 39 paintings and the Chester Beatty Library has 268 folios with 61 paintings and 7 additional folios from volume I. The 7 additional leaves are all mounted on Farhang-i Jahangiri folios (Linda York Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Vol. II, Dublin, 1995, pp.294-300, no.2.154-2.160).
Art historians have variously dated this Akbarnama from either the last years of the 16th century or the first years of the 17th century depending on the precise reading of an inscription. John Seyller has suggested a corrected reading of the date on f.134b of the British Library volume as 12 Isfandarmuz mah-i Ilahi sana 40/22 February 1596. Corroborating this date is a second inscription on a painting near the beginning of the Chester Beatty Library volume with another date, 19 Urdibihisht RY 42/30 April 1597 (John Seyller, ‘Scribal notes on Mughal manuscript illustrations’, Artibus Asiae, 48, 1987, pp.247-77).
Our painting is from the second volume of the 1597 Akbarnama most of which is in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. This is the left half of a double-page composition. The right half (f.84b), depicting Akbar’s armies fighting the Gakhars in 1563, is ascribed to the Mughal artist Surdas, and is in the collection of the Chester Beatty Library (Linda York Beach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Vol. I, London, 1995, no. 2.116, pp. 260-261). Our painting fills a gap in the Chester Beatty Akbarnama at f. 84/85. It is painting no.92 of the original total of 170 paintings in the manuscript.
The dramatic scene depicts Kamal Khan defeating the armies of his uncle Sultan Adam and his cousin, Lashkari. Kamal Khan was the son of Shir Shah, Sultan Adam’s older brother and the chief of the hill tribe Gakhar who occupied the land between the rivers Beas and Indus in North-west India. After Shir Shah’s death, Kamal Khan was imprisoned in Gwalior and Sultan Adam became chief of the tribe. Whilst in prison, Kamal Khan sent a petition to Akbar who ordered Sultan Adam to divide his lands with his nephew. When Adam refused, troops were sent on Akbar’s command to imprison him.
Our painting, like its counterpart in the Chester Beatty Library, has been attributed to the Mughal artist Surdas who was originally from Gujarat. It is difficult to differentiate between the Gakhar tribesmen and the imperial soldiers in the scene. Surdas has been unable to portray different regional facial types but convincingly conveys a sense of action and drama in the scene.
Sur Das, generally termed ‘Gujarati’, arrived at the Mughal court about a decade after Akbar’s conquest of territories in western India. He was a prolific artist in the imperial atelier between 1595 and 1605. He is known to have contributed to the British Library 1596 Khamsa of Nizami, the Metropolitan/Walters 1598 Khamsa of Dihlavi and the Cincinnati Gulistan of Sa’di. The highlight of his career was the four paintings he did for the British Library volume of the Akbarnama (folios 34v, 40r, 47v, 106r) and nine paintings for the Chester Beatty Akbarnama volumes. For a note on Surdas and mention of additional paintings attributed to him, see Linda York Leach, Vol. II, op. cit., pp. 1117-118.
We would like to thank John Seyller for his assistance with cataloguing this lot.
A slightly later copy, by the famous calligrapher, Maulana Muhammad Husain Kashmiri, known as Zarrin Qalam, is divided between the British Library (OR.12988) and the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. Volume I of Abu’l Fazl’s text which is in the British Library deals with the history of the Mughals up to Akbar and Akbar’s childhood, covering events up to the death of Humayun in 1556. The Chester Beatty Library has volumes II and part of III which are concerned with Akbar’s reign itself, beginning with Akbar’s coronation and ending in 1579. It is uncertain whether the final portion of the manuscript is missing or was never completed. The British Library has 163 folios with 39 paintings and the Chester Beatty Library has 268 folios with 61 paintings and 7 additional folios from volume I. The 7 additional leaves are all mounted on Farhang-i Jahangiri folios (Linda York Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Vol. II, Dublin, 1995, pp.294-300, no.2.154-2.160).
Art historians have variously dated this Akbarnama from either the last years of the 16th century or the first years of the 17th century depending on the precise reading of an inscription. John Seyller has suggested a corrected reading of the date on f.134b of the British Library volume as 12 Isfandarmuz mah-i Ilahi sana 40/22 February 1596. Corroborating this date is a second inscription on a painting near the beginning of the Chester Beatty Library volume with another date, 19 Urdibihisht RY 42/30 April 1597 (John Seyller, ‘Scribal notes on Mughal manuscript illustrations’, Artibus Asiae, 48, 1987, pp.247-77).
Our painting is from the second volume of the 1597 Akbarnama most of which is in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. This is the left half of a double-page composition. The right half (f.84b), depicting Akbar’s armies fighting the Gakhars in 1563, is ascribed to the Mughal artist Surdas, and is in the collection of the Chester Beatty Library (Linda York Beach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Vol. I, London, 1995, no. 2.116, pp. 260-261). Our painting fills a gap in the Chester Beatty Akbarnama at f. 84/85. It is painting no.92 of the original total of 170 paintings in the manuscript.
The dramatic scene depicts Kamal Khan defeating the armies of his uncle Sultan Adam and his cousin, Lashkari. Kamal Khan was the son of Shir Shah, Sultan Adam’s older brother and the chief of the hill tribe Gakhar who occupied the land between the rivers Beas and Indus in North-west India. After Shir Shah’s death, Kamal Khan was imprisoned in Gwalior and Sultan Adam became chief of the tribe. Whilst in prison, Kamal Khan sent a petition to Akbar who ordered Sultan Adam to divide his lands with his nephew. When Adam refused, troops were sent on Akbar’s command to imprison him.
Our painting, like its counterpart in the Chester Beatty Library, has been attributed to the Mughal artist Surdas who was originally from Gujarat. It is difficult to differentiate between the Gakhar tribesmen and the imperial soldiers in the scene. Surdas has been unable to portray different regional facial types but convincingly conveys a sense of action and drama in the scene.
Sur Das, generally termed ‘Gujarati’, arrived at the Mughal court about a decade after Akbar’s conquest of territories in western India. He was a prolific artist in the imperial atelier between 1595 and 1605. He is known to have contributed to the British Library 1596 Khamsa of Nizami, the Metropolitan/Walters 1598 Khamsa of Dihlavi and the Cincinnati Gulistan of Sa’di. The highlight of his career was the four paintings he did for the British Library volume of the Akbarnama (folios 34v, 40r, 47v, 106r) and nine paintings for the Chester Beatty Akbarnama volumes. For a note on Surdas and mention of additional paintings attributed to him, see Linda York Leach, Vol. II, op. cit., pp. 1117-118.
We would like to thank John Seyller for his assistance with cataloguing this lot.