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208:, unusually, mentions that the book was "commissioned for the treasury of books and august library, servants of his majesty...". The emphasis on the duties, difficulties and splendour of kingship is to be expected in a royal commission, but another recurring theme, of the difficulties of relationships between fathers and sons, is much more individual to this book (miniatures 5, 14, 16, 18, 20). There is a particular interest in visual art; apart from the unusual added portrait of the scribe and a painter, both Western-style art works and Hindu sculptures are depicted (miniatures, 25, 36, 44). Events in the stories are probably also intended to refer to victories of Akbar, and his generosity to the conquered.
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188:, an extra miniature was added by order of the new emperor with a double portrait showing the scribe at work facing Dawlat, the artist of the new miniature, making a drawing of him. This is dated, with an illegible last digit, between 1611 and 1620. Some miniatures are the work of more than one artist, typically dividing the work between drawing the overall composition, colouring and faces. This had been a common method in the imperial workshop, but was giving way to having miniatures all painted by a single artist, as the Mughal style became increasingly concerned with fine detail and realistic depiction.
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of numbering the miniatures. The manuscript therefore originally had 42 pages of miniatures, counting double pages as two. Some miniatures are out of their natural sequence, but the numbering suggests the manuscript was made in this way. Apart from the figurative miniatures, there are a number of pages with decorative panels of abstract motifs, plants and animals, especially at the beginning and end of sections of the work. The original painted and
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The main London portion of the manuscript has 36 full-page figurative miniatures, one a double page spread. Baltimore has four miniatures, also including one double page subject (so five pages). Two further miniatures (or one double one) are missing, as shown by a small and apparently early system
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book covers each (front and back) have one side with a gold and brown scene of animals attacking other animals in a landscape and on the other side a scene with muted colour, one of a hunt and the other of an enthroned ruler, no doubt Akbar, being presented with the catch of game. All four scenes
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script is in four columns of 21 lines. There is also some text on most of the miniature pages, inside the rectangular frame in compartments of varying size, shape and placing. The miniatures have somewhat variable rectangular frames of plain lines and bands of colour, outside which there are
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missionaries. While the landscapes often show
European influence, and indeed north European characteristics, the many animals depicted mostly ignore the mythical beasts often seen in Persian painting, and emphasize species native to India, depicted with considerable naturalism.
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at his death in 1958. It came to the
British Library when it inherited the British Museum libraries on its foundation in 1973. The Baltimore leaves had already been separated before 1909. In 2013 pages from the manuscript were exhibited in the British Library's exhibition
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The choice and emphasis of the miniatures has certain distinctive features; the selection of subjects was probably made by the royal librarian and approved by the emperor, or possibly the emperor himself, possibly also in consultation with some of the artists. One of the
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decoration of plants, birds and animals, with some rocks and other landscape elements. Outside this are further plain frames, with a final zone of simple pen decoration which is probably recent as the form is different between the pages in London and those in
Baltimore.
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had brought from Persia some forty-five years earlier, at the start of the Mughal tradition. The single scribe was Abd al-Rahim ('Abd al-Rahim 'Ambarin Qalam), a leading calligrapher of the day. Unusually, when the manuscript was inherited by Akbar's son
131:
of which many luxury illuminated manuscript versions have been made; in particular this manuscript should not be confused with
British Library, Or. 2265, a Persian manuscript of 1539-43 which is even better known. The poems are in
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The history of the manuscript is unknown after its ownership by
Jahangir; the Mughal library amounted to some 24,000 manuscripts at its height, though many were taken by the Iranian
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are enclosed in a frame with two borders of elaborate decoration, which like much of the abstract decorative work is similar in style to
Persian, or Mughal, carpet decoration.
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drawn mostly from the lives of historical figures, while the remaining four poems are romances, including many stories found in
Persian tradition and earlier works such as the
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when he overran much of the Mughal empire in the 18th century. The known history resumes in 1909, when the London portion was bought by the collector
94:. The manuscript has been described as "one of the finest examples of the Indo-Muslim arts of the book", and "one of the most perfect of the
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in the early 1590s by a number of artists and a single scribe working at the Mughal court, very probably in Akbar's new capital of
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The manuscript in London has 325 folios of "light-brown polished paper" with a page size of 302 x 198 mm. On text pages the
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175:, though the main artist, Khvaja Abd-al Samad, is Muslim. One miniature, of Khusraw hunting, is the latest known work of
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163:, Akbar's minister and translator from Persian, between 12 Oct 1593 and 14 December 1595, as inscriptions record.
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of the highest quality throughout the text; five of these are detached from the main manuscript and are in the
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The miniatures are attributed by inscriptions to at least twenty artists, most of them apparently
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rhyming couplets. The first poem is a collection of moral discourses illustrated by stories or
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651:"Between the Brush and Pen; on the Intertwined Histories of Mughal Painting and Calligraphy"
434:"Between the Brush and Pen; on the Intertwined Histories of Mughal Painting and Calligraphy"
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432:, began at the Mughal court working for Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana. See Rice, Yael,
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The text was written by ʻAbd al-Rahīm ʻAnbarīn-qalām, not to be confused with
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Persian
Miniature Painting, and its Influence on the Art of Turkey and India
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showing him (left) painting the calligrapher of the manuscript, Abd al-Rahim
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Envisioning
Islamic Art and Architecture: Essays in Honor of Renata Holod
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Envisioning
Islamic Art and Architecture: Essays in Honor of Renata Holod
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British Library Catalogue link with link to full British Library section
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Brend, 7-8, with a fuller account as the miniatures are worked through
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Invention of the Mirror in the Presence of Alexander the Great
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Invention of the Mirror in the Presence of Alexander the Great
179:, former head of the imperial workshop and one of the artists
152:. Akbar had already commissioned a smaller manuscript of the
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Illuminated manuscripts of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
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The empire of the great Mughals: history, art and culture
51:, a 12th-century Persian poet, which was created for the
352:'Abd al-Rahim 'Ambarin Qalam, Text page, Walters W613 1A
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generous borders filled with very high quality gold
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191:Apart from their main origin in the tradition of
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489:Full page image online, from the British Library
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78:, the manuscript is celebrated for over forty
664:, 1983, University of Texas Press, 0292764847
610:Schimmel, Annemarie and Waghmar, Burzine K.,
41:is a lavishly illustrated manuscript of the
675:Catalogue description of the Walters leaves
440:, edited by David J. Roxburgh, 163, note 41
428:in fact ʻAbd al-Rahīm ʻAnbarīn-qalām, from
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595:Losty, J. P., & Roy, Malini (eds),
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545:
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597:Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire
280:Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire
98:type of manuscripts made for Akbar".
710:16th-century illuminated manuscripts
700:British Library oriental manuscripts
590:The Emperor Akbar's Khamsa of Niẓāmī
226:, by Dharm Das, another Walters page
127:by Nizami or Nizami is a classic of
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336:'Abd al-Rahim 'Ambarin Qalam,
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1:
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639:, Thames & Hudson, 1976,
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156:, which was made in 1585-90.
16:Mughal illuminated manuscript
286:Gallery (Walters Art Museum)
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380:Schimmel & Waghmar, 264
119:, one of the Walters' pages
92:Walters Art Museum MS W.613
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39:British Library, Or. 12208
637:Royal Persian Manuscripts
599:, 2013, British Library,
450:British Library Catalogue
614:, Reaktion Books, 2004,
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161:Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana
125:collection of five works
592:. British Library, 1995
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70:. Apart from the fine
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370:Walters database entry
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33:illuminated manuscript
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401:Welch, 22, 30, 70-97
271:Worcestershire sauce
419:Losty & Roy, 48
392:Losty & Roy, 49
302:Alexander the Great
267:C. W. Dyson Perrins
47:or "five poems" of
725:Indian manuscripts
660:Titley, Norah M.,
633:Welch, Stuart Cary
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84:Walters Art Museum
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212:Description
72:calligraphy
715:Mughal art
689:Categories
605:0712358706
583:References
306:Persepolis
263:Nadir Shah
167:Miniatures
62:in North
526:Brend, 71
517:Brend, 70
508:Brend, 80
460:Brend, 66
250:lacquered
240:grisaille
206:colophons
145:Shahnameh
88:Baltimore
66:, now in
549:Brend, 8
269:(of the
233:nastaliq
186:Jahangir
150:Ferdowsi
140:parables
68:Pakistan
257:History
181:Humayun
135:masnavi
116:Khusraw
114:Before
96:de luxe
74:of the
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223:Darius
197:Jesuit
173:Hindus
154:Khamsa
112:Farhad
60:Lahore
44:Khamsa
25:Daulat
653:, in
436:, in
430:Herat
358:Notes
64:India
56:Akbar
641:ISBN
624:ISBN
616:ISBN
601:ISBN
123:The
102:Text
31:The
148:of
90:as
691::
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622:,
540:^
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86:,
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