Persian Artists in Mughal India

Persian Artists in Mughal India: Influences and TransformationsAuthor(s): Priscilla P. SoucekReviewed work(s):Source: Muqarnas, Vol. 4 (1987), pp. 166-181Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1523102 .Accessed: 26/04/2012 04:44

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PRISCILLA P. SOUCEK

PERSIAN ARTISTS IN MUGHAL INDIA: INFLUENCES AND TRANSFORMATIONS

A number of painters and calligraphers trained in Iran made important contributions to book production and book illustration in Mughal India. Here the careers of three of them, Mir CAli al-Haravi (ca. 1476-1545), CAbd al-Samad Shirazi (ca. 1518-ca. 1600), and Aqa Riza al-Haravi (fl. 1580-1608) will be examined. Documentation of their contributions will be supplemented by a more general survey of the artistic connections that existed between Iran and Mughal India.

One reason for the number and persistence of those connections was the Mughal enthusiasm for Iranian

painting and calligraphy fostered in part by an

eagerness to stress both dynastic and cultural links to the Timurids. In his autobiography, Babur shows a

particular reverence for the Timurid artistic and cultural heritage,' and the same appreciation is

apparent in the taste of his descendants. Mughal authors mention the painting of Bihzad and the

calligraphy of Sultan CAli Mashhadi as the standard of excellence against which all other works were to be

judged.2 The books collected by the Mughal emperors also

reflected their appreciation of Iranian painting and

calligraphy. Volumes connected with important artists or patrons of the Timurid period appear to have been

especially prized. One volume, a Shahnama probably made for Timur's grandson Muhammad Juki, be-

longed successively to Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Awrangzib.3 Even more

important was a Zafar-nama manuscript (now in

Baltimore), copied by Sultan CAli al-Mashhadi in 1485, that contains paintings often attributed to Bihzad. It includes inscriptions by both Akbar and Jahangir and

may even be identified with the Timur-nama manuscript that once belonged to Humayun.4 Key events from Timur's life are depicted in double-page paintings that

may have provided a model for the illustration of

Mughal dynastic histories such as the Akbar-nama or the

Jahangir-nama. Also highly esteemed was a late-

fifteenth-century copy of Nizami's Khamsa that

belonged to Jahangir and Shah Jahan.5 Surviving paintings demonstrate that Mughal artists made both literal copies and free adaptations of fifteenth-century Iranian paintings.6

The migration of artists to the Mughal courts formed the third and most decisive link between Iranian traditions and the taste of Mughal India. A few, like 'Abd al-Samad Shirazi, came in response to invitations from the Mughal rulers, but most, including Mir Muham- mad Baqir, the son of Mir 'Ali al-Haravi, appear to have come seeking their own fortune. Political distur- bances in Iran and Central Asia must also have encour-

aged migrations. Once in India. these painters, calligraphers, illuminators, and bookbinders spread knowledge of Iranian style and techniques not only through their own work but also through their activities as teachers and supervisors of manuscript work-

shops. Among these migrations, that of artists trained at the

Safavid court in Tabriz is often considered of critical

importance to the development Mughal painting, and

indeed, various features of Mughal court painting appear to derive from the style and compositions popular at the Safavid court. Most influential were Per- sian landscape schemes dividing the picture into several

levels, each represented by a distinct cell of space. Also

popular was a composition showing a palace enclave with various figures grouped in and around pavilions.7 Along with new compositions, Iranian artists brought new methods for producing paintings; the most important of these was probably the use of tarh or detailed

preparatory sketches. The tarh by one artist could serve as a model for the work of several others, thereby dis-

seminating compositions, a method used in some Ira- nian workshops.8 Another was to assign to the most skilled artists the exacting task of designing paintings, leaving to their assistants the more mechanical task of

adding color. Inscriptions on Mughal manuscripts

PERSIAN ARTISTS IN MUGHAL INDIA

demonstrate that this approach was particularly popular in India during the reign of Akbar.9

Methods of producing colored and decorated paper were also carried to India, principally by artists trained in Mashhad and Herat.10 Both the taste for ornamented paper and the skills needed to create it had been transmitted to Iran from China in the course of the fifteenth century.11 In India, gold-painted paper was used to frame the text pages of several manuscripts copied for Akbar, but decorated paper was more widely used for the borders of album pages. Particularly lavish are the borders of Jahangir's albums.12

MIR CALI AL-HARAVI AND THE TIMURID STYLE OF NASTACLIQ

The calligraphy of Mir CAli al-Haravi, active in

Herat, Mashhad, and Bukhara from the late fifteenth

century to 1545, was highly esteemed at the Mughal courts. Appreciation of Mir CAli's work is evident from references by Mughal authors and from the many examples preserved in Indian collections. Abu'l-Fazl describes him as the perfector of a style of calligraphy associated with Sultan CAli Mashhadi and as one who has "left many masterpieces."'3 CAbd al-Baqi Nihavandi is even more lavish, describing Mir CAli as "the qibla of the scribes" (qiblat al-kuttab).'4

Another index of Mughal enthusiasm for Mir CAli's

calligraphy is its extensive use in Mughal muraqqacs or albums where it was customary to alternate calligraphy with paintings and to arrange them so that facing pages with calligraphy specimens alternated with pages bear-

ing paintings. In the muraqqacs now in Tehran and Berlin that were arranged for Jahangir, most of the

calligraphy is by Mir CAli.l1 His work also

predominates in the muraqqac assembled for Shah Jahan and now divided between the Metropolitan Museum and the Freer Gallery.'6 Complete manuscripts copied by Mir CAli were also in Indian collections.'7

Mughal appreciation of Mir CAli's work appears to combine a genuine enthusiasm for his style with the view that he epitomizes the achievements of Timurid

calligraphers. In his history of nastacliq script, Abu'l- Fazl emphasizes the style favored in Timurid Herat. Initiated by Mir CAli al-Tabrizi, this mode was intro- duced to Herat by his students Jafar and Azhar. There it was further refined by Sultan CAli al-Mashhadi and

perfected by Mir CAli al-Haravi.18

This historical progression from Mir CAli al-Tabrizi to Mir CAli al-Haravi described by Abu'l-Fazl is

paralleled by the calligraphy samples preserved in

Jahangir's albums. The Tehran muraqqac contains

pages signed by Mir CAli al-Tabrizi, JaCfar, and Azhar, as well as examples by Sultan CAli al-Mashhadi and Mir CAli al-Haravi.19 These various scribes are further linked by the inclusion of pages on which the scribe records that he is using the style of his teacher or

predecessor. The muraqqac contains a page written by JaCfar in the script invented by his teacher Mir 'Ali al- Tabrizi as well as a calligraphic exercise executed by Mir CAli al-Haravi in the style of Mir CAli al-Tabrizi.20 The pages preserved in Jahangir's muraqqac thus give concrete evidence of the historical progression described by Abu'l-Fazl.

An examination of those album pages demonstrates that Mir 'Ali al-Haravi was strongly influenced by the

style of his predecessors, but that he also developed a

personal idiom. Overall the Herat calligraphers are noted for the balance they achieve between a careful

shaping of individual letters and a sense of flow in the combination of words in a line or of lines on a page. In

comparison with earlier scribes of the Herat tradition, Mir CAli al-Haravi has a bolder sense of rhythm and makes greater use of parallel forms to give visual drama to his text. He is remembered for his skill in the

transcription of qitCas, short excerpts from poetic texts often mounted as album pages.2' Frequently he com- bined two texts on a single page, writing the principal one across its center in a bold diagonal scheme and

using the second executed in a delicate nastaCliq to frame the central zone22 (fig. 1).

The historical record confirms Mir CAli's importance as a calligrapher in the Herat tradition, but it does not

completely explain his extraordinary impact on the

development of calligraphy in Mughal India. Both the

style of his nastaCliq script and his scheme for arranging texts on a page were imitated by Mughal scribes.23 Mir 'Ali does not appear to have had any personal ties with the Mughal dynasty, although he did compose a pane- gyric praising Babur as "the honor of Timur's

family." He may have served the Timurids of Herat as a chancery scribe, but he is best remembered for his

long association with the Shaybanid rulers of Bukhara, where he lived from ca. 1528 until his death in 1544- 45.24 During his residence in Bukhara, Mir 'Ali was chief scribe in the manuscript workshop of CAbd al- CAziz b. CUbaydallah where painters and illuminators were also employed.25 During this time Mir CAli was also active as a teacher of calligraphy; his most famous

pupil was Sayyid Ahmad al-Mashhadi who later served Shah Tahmasp in Tabriz.26

167

Fig. 1. Mir cAli al-Haravi. QitCa. Washington, D.C., Freer Gallery of Art, 63.4, vol. 2ar. Fig. 2. Mir Muhammad Baqir ibn Mir cAli. Calligraphy. 965 (1557-78). Lon- don, India Office Library no. 384, fol. 50r.

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More significant for the dissemination of Mir CAli's

style in India is the career of his son, Mir Muhammad

Baqir. Trained by his father in Bukhara, he may have succeeded him as court calligrapher to the Shaybanids. In addition, Mir Muhammad established a link with the Mughal dynasty. An album containing calligraphy by both father and son is now preserved in Istanbul. It is said to be dedicated to Humayun who died in 1556.27 The date of Mir Muhammad's arrival in India is

unknown, but Abu'l-Fazl, writing in the 1590's, mentions him as "a renowned calligrapher of the present age.'28

During his years in India, Mir Muhammad Baqir was closely associated with the prominent Mughal grandee and connoisseur CAbd al-Rahim Khan-i

Khanan, who had a long career of service to the

Mughal dynasty and was also famous as a patron of the arts, supporting many poets and maintaining his own

manuscript workshop. According to the Khan-i Khanan's biographer CAbd al-Baqi Nihavandi, Mir Muhammad Baqir joined his service "when he came to India" and executed calligraphy for him. Mir Muham- mad also brought with him a slave named Bahbud whom he had trained in painting and calligraphy. This slave was then given to the Khan-i Khanan by Mir Muhammad Baqir and continued to produce paintings and calligraphy for his new master.29

Although this account of Mir Muhammad Baqir's activities in India is obviously incomplete, it does suggest that he represents an important link between the artistic traditions of Iran and those of India. During his

period of association with the workshop of the Khan-i Khanan, he disseminated his father's calligraphic style through his own work and possibly also through his

teaching of younger scribes. One such scribe may have been CAbd al-Rahim al-Haravi, who moved to India in his youth and joined the entourage of the Khan-i Khanan.30 In his style of nastacliq, CAbd al-Rahim follows the canon of Mir CAli. His debt to the earlier scribe is clearly expressed in an album page now in the collection of Sadruddin Aga Khan. In it a boldly executed central panel is contrasted with finely written

framing texts, a scheme favored by Mir CAli. The con- nection between the two scribes is recorded in a dedica- tion on the page's upper right corner, "To my master Mir cAli."31 CAbd al-Rahim was active in India from about 1590 to 1624, so his knowledge of Mir CAli's calligraphy could not have come directly from that

calligrapher, who had died in 1544-45. Possibly he

acquired his knowledge of Mir CAli's style in the

workshop of the Khan-i Khanan. Mir Muhammad Baqir also appears to have been

instrumental in making samples of his father's work known in India. The album which he arranged for and dedicated to Humayun could have been sent from Bukhara, but other albums may have traveled with him to India. It is even possible that most of the calligraphy found in Jahangir's muraqqacs come from an album

organized by Mir CAli himself and carried to India by his son. Evidence to support this hypothesis is found in the Tehran muraqqac that contains part of an album

preface written by Mir CAli and dated to 938 (1531-32). A letter from Mir CAli to his son is also preserved in that album.32

Other manuscripts copied by Mir CAli may also have been transmitted to India by Mir Muhammad Baqir and his patron the Khan-i Khanan. Jahangir mentions that the Khan-i Khanan gave him a manuscript of

Jami's Yusuf u Zulaykha copied by Mir CAli.33 A more

specific link between Mir Muhammad Baqir and the Khan-i Khanan is made by a manuscript of Nizami's Khamsa now in the India Office Library. It was copied by Mir Muhammad in 965 (1557-58), probably in Bukhara, and illustrated some fifty years later in India

(fig. 2).34 Its paintings are in the style used by Mushfiq, a painter in the employ of the Khan-i Khanan.35

The popularity of Mir CAli's calligraphy at the

Mughal court obviously had several sources. Both his

style as a calligrapher and his skill at arranging qitCas were clearly appreciated by Indian connoisseurs. His

reputation was also enhanced by Mughal respect for the artistic heritage of Timurid Iran. On a practical level, the impact of Mir CAli's style in shaping the canon of nastacliq favored at the Mughal court must also be due to the activities of his son, Mir Muhammad Baqir.

CABD AL-SAMAD SHIRAZI AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO MUGHAL PAINTING

Although the bureaucratic career of CAbd al-Samad at the Mughal court is relatively well documented, little is known about his personal life, and his personal contribution to the development of Mughal painting must be reconstructed from surprisingly fragmentary evidence. It is known that he was active as an artist by 1543-44, when he met Humayun in Tabriz. He may have been born in Shiraz where his father is said to

169

PRISCILLA P. SOUCEK

have been an official,36 but the exact dates of his birth and death are uncertain. He appears to have died between 1600 and Jahangir's accession in 1605.37

It has been assumed that CAbd al-Samad was trained at the Safavid court in Tabriz, and paintings he later executed in India demonstrate a familiarity with the

compositional repertoire of Tahmasp's atelier. It is

possible, however, that in Iran he was primarily trained as a calligrapher since Abu'l-Fazl tells us that he was active as a scribe, earning from Akbar the epithet shirin- qalam (lit., sweet pen).38 This might explain why Per- sian sources discussing Tahmasp's atelier make no mention of him, whereas they do refer to Mir Sayyid CAli, the painter with whom he was associated in

Mughal service.39 Two basic types of information document CAbd al-

Samad's life in India. Textual references mention his duties and responsibilities at the Mughal court, and

paintings signed by, or attributed to, him are preserved in albums or manuscripts. A few more references and

paintings can be connected with his two sons, Muham- mad Sharif and Bihzad, both of whom appear to have studied painting with him. These precise references

must, however, be supplemented by general observa- tions about the evolution of Mughal painting in order to gain a more complete understanding of 'Abd al- Samad's importance.

The first phase of CAbd al-Samad's activity as a

Mughal painter bridges the last years of Humayun's reign and the beginning of Akbar's. All of his signed works are isolated paintings suitable for inclusion in

albums, and some of them were made on the occasion of nawruz, perhaps for presentation to his Mughal patrons. The earliest of these, from the year 958 (1551), shows two youths seated in a garden, one playing a musical instrument, the other writing. The second (as yet unpublished) is said to depict a groom leading a horse and to be dated to nawruz 965 (March 1558). Curiously, the inscription of each painting specifies that it was made in half a day's time.40 The painter's use of simple compositions with few elements may reflect his wish to display speed and dexterity, but it makes these paintings less instructive about 'Abd al- Samad's training and skill.

The strongest indication of a link between CAbd al- Samad and the style of painting practiced in Safavid Tabriz is provided by another single page, this one

depicting Akbar and his father Humayun. They are seated on a platform erected in a tree that is connected

by a walkway to a double-story pavilion. Courtiers and attendants crowd the pavilion and its surrounding courtyard. When this page was mounted in an album, inscriptions were added to its frame identifying the scene as Akbar's presentation of a painting to his father

Humayun.41 In general outline the composition resembles paintings such as Barbad Playing Music to Khusraw and the Nightmare of Zahhak executed at the Safavid court.42 The imprint of the Tabriz style is also evident in the poses of the figures and in the rich architectural detail. In it 'Abd al-Samad has adapted a Tabriz composition to illustrate an event at the Mughal court.

The copying or close imitation of earlier compositions appears to have been an important part of the education of Iranian painters. During Akbar's reign, CAbd al-Samad was probably more active as a teacher in the royal manuscript atelier than as a painter.43 It is

likely that painters trained by him were encouraged to imitate Iranian compositions. If so, this practice might explain the revival of the Tabriz compositional canon in a group of manuscripts produced for Akbar during the 1590's.44

'Abd al-Samad's contribution to the development of

painting under Akbar is only partially understood. An

analysis of the importance of the Hamzanama for CAbd al-Samad's own artistic evolution must await a clearer

understanding of those paintings. Some sense of it can, however, be gained from isolated paintings, probably created for display in albums. Most accomplished among them is the scene of Jamshid inscribing verses on a hillside (fig. 3).45 Dated both to the thirty-second year of Akbar's reign and to A.H. 998, it must have been painted between December 1587 and March 1588, probably on the occasion of nawruz 1588. The

page is inscribed with twelve couplets taken from three different passages in Sa'di's Bustan. The first group sets the stage:

I've heard that Jamshid of blessed constitution Wrote this upon a stone above a spring. At this spring many like us have drawn breath Then gone on as they closed their eyes.46

This theme of the evanescence of human life is repeated in the other two passages cited:

Alas! without us many a day The rose grows and the spring will blow Many a month in summer, winter, spring Will come while we are dust and brickbats.47 Rejoicing in idle fancy, passion,

170


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Fig. 3. CAbd al-Samad Shirazi. Jamshid Inscribes Verses on a Stone. 998 (1588). Washington, D.C., Freer Gallery of Art, 63.4, vol. 12av.

We passed o'er many a person's dust And persons yet in the World unseen Will come and pass o'er ours.48

Although taken from different sections of Sa(di's text, these three passages evoke the same atmosphere of

melancholy. If this painting was executed on the occasion of

nawrtz, a theme connected with Jamshid would have been particularly appropriate. That heroic figure was popularly associated with the origins of nawruz and also with the site of Persepolis, where ancient inscriptions were thought to be connected with him. Here, the

youthful calligrapher wears a golden garment whose luminosity suggests a visual pun on Jamshid's name.49 As both SaCdi and Jamshid were connected with the region of Shiraz, which was CAbd al-Samad's ancestral home, the theme may have other, more personal mean- ings as well, for either the painter or the individual for whom it was intended.

This painting of Jamshid also provides an indication of how CAbd al-Samad's style matured in India. In its basic outlines, the landscape with its tilted plane and small compartments of space derives from the compositional canon of Safavid Tabriz. Similar settings can be seen in various paintings executed for Shah Tahmasp, such as Majnun and the Animals from his Khamsa.50 On closer inspection, however, (Abd al-Samad's style dif- fers from that of Safavid Tabriz. Figures are still clearly silhouetted through the use of outline and chromatic contrast with the landscape background, but within those contours gradations of color are used to create an impression of volume and substance, a procedure especially marked in the rendering of facial features. The use of color to suggest shape is also evident in the treatment of landscape forms such as the rocky bluff behind Jamshid.

CAbd al-Samad must have given younger painters an appreciation of Persian style and technique in his duties as supervisor of the manuscript workshop at Akbar's court. The clearest indication of his influence on the work of the next generation is found in paintings by his two sons, Bihzad and (Muhammad) Sharif. Most ambitious among them is the depiction of a young prince in a golden garment riding through the country- side with several retainers (fig. 4).51 Mounted on a page from Jahangir's album, it must have been conceived as a pendant to CAbd al-Samad's painting of Jamshid. In both its composition and execution this scene has close affinities to CAbd al-Samad's style. Some have even concluded that it must be by his hand.52

An elaborate signature on the page in the name of

(Muhammad) Sharif, however, is strong evidence for his authorship. In it he declares himself to be a devoted disciple, presumably of Akbar's new faith, the d?n-i ildah, and gives the date of 9 Fawardin 999 in Akbar's thirty-sixth regnal year. This is equivalent to March 20, 1591, so that this painting also appears to have been executed in conjunction with the celebration of nawruz. When compared to that of his father, Muhammad's work is freer in its use of modeling. His figures have a greater sense of corporeality than do those of his father, but they are rather expressionless. The youths in this

171

PRISCILLA P. SOUCEK

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Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection L.69.24.220.

painting bear a close resemblance to one included in another of his signed works, Layla's Visit to Majnun in a Khamsa of Nizami now in the Keir Collection.53

CAbd al-Samad's younger son Bihzad probably also

participated in the illustration of the Keir Collection

Nizami, completing two paintings drawn by Farrukh

Beg.54 A sense of Bihzad's own style can be gained from a painting he executed for the Dardbnama manuscript in the British Library.55 Its landscape in particular is

clearly indebted to CAbd al-Samad's style, even though the figures have a greater freedom of movement than is

common in the father's work. A marginal note suggests that CAbd al-Samad may have supervised some aspects of the manuscript's production. Unfortunately the Dardbndma colophon is lost, and the circumstances of its

production are unclear. Further evidence of family cooperation comes from

two later manuscripts, the Razmndma of ca. 1582-86 and the Nizami Khamsa of 1595, both supervised by (Muhammad) Sharif.56

CAbd al-Samad contributed illustrations to both

manuscripts. His painting for the Khamsa shows figures placed at three levels in a rocky landscape.57 Despite some indications of volume, forms are described

primarily by their contours. Human figures, although they show some modeling of facial features and variety in posture, have little real substance, and their gestures are arranged to fit on a two-dimensional surface.

The conservatism of CAbd al-Samad's style is also evident in paintings that appear to be among his last works. Two album pages show the same general set-

ting, a valley in front of a hillside covered with small boulders. In one, a groom runs with a horse (fig. 5); in the other a princely party visits the retreat of a hermit.58 Neither work is signed, although the visit to the hermit bears an attribution to CAbd al-Samad. The landscape depicted in these paintings is reminiscent of that used in CAbd al-Samad's copy of Bihzad's wellknown composition of two fighting camels (fig. 6).59 An inscription by the artist records that it was made at the request of his son Sharif and that the artist was infirm at the time of its execution.

Aside from presenting the Bihzadian composition in

reverse, the painting is notable for its use of heavy outlines, particularly in the rendition of rocks. Somber tones can also be seen in the modeling of facial features. This color scheme was probably intended to mimic the

appearance of European prints then much in vogue at the Mughal court. Another change from the Bihzadian

composition is in the treatment of the camels. Whereas the creatures in Bihzad's painting appear to be engaged in a rhythmic dance, those of CAbd al-Samad are clearly locked in combat, snarling and spitting. This interest in verisimilitude is in keeping with Akbar's fascination with the depiction of actual events.

CAbd al-Samad's long career spans the critical years in which Mughal painting evolved its own blend of elements drawn from Iranian, Indian, and European sources. In particular, his scene with fighting camels

epitomizes the Iranian contribution to that process and underscores the continued veneration of Bihzad as the

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Fig. 5. Attributed to Abd al-Samad Shirazi. Groom Leads a Horse Tehran, Gulistan Library. From Atabali, Fihrist-i Muraqqat-i kitabkhna-ye saltanatf (Tehran, 1353S.), pl. following p. 351.

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quintessential representative of that tradition. It also demonstrates how the carefully balanced compositions developed by generations of artists working in Herat and Tabriz provided an essential compositional framework which Mughal artists could enliven with their own skill in representing the sensate world.

AQA RIZA AL-HARAVI AND HIS CAREER IN INDIA

Little is known of the family background or training of this artist beyond Jahangir's reference to him as

"Aqa Riza al-Haravi" (the Herati).60 A family link with Khurasan is also suggested by the signature for- mulas used by his son Abu'l-Hasan who signs once as

"al-Mashhad'" and once as khdk-i astan-i Riza (dust of Riza's tomb) indicating his attachment to the shrine of Imam Riza in Mashhad.61 It is evident from Aqa Riza's paintings that he was trained in Iran, but it is difficult to determine who his teachers were. He may also have studied illumination in Iran, particularly the art of border decoration, a skill he practiced in India.

No stylistic evolution is evident in Aqa Riza's signed and dated works, all of which were produced within the few years between 1600 and 1608, by which time his

style had already been modified by his experience in India. Elements drawn from European sources, as well as those taken from earlier Mughal painting, are placed in an Iranian compositional framework. Variants of this stylistic synthesis are evident in his manuscript illustrations and in his border illuminations. Most of

Aqa Riza's paintings were produced for Akbar's eldest son Salim (who ruled as Jahangir). This patron's taste

probably stimulated Aqa Riza's efforts to assimilate

European and Mughal art.

Especially important for analyzing the Persian com-

ponents of his style are isolated pages from the Muraqqac Gulshan and illustrations from a copy of Anvar-i Suhaylz, two of which are dated to 1013 (1604-5).62 In all of these

paintings primary attention is given to the human par- ticipants; dressed in brightly colored garments, they are framed by landscape or architectural features that are often discordantly small in scale. This combination creates dense, almost spaceless compositions, but it has the advantage of bringing the painting's subject sharply into focus. Despite their compositional simplicity, Aqa Riza's illustrations often contain elements of humor or wit.

The Iranian aspect of his style is clearly evident in two illustrations depicting Dabshalim, the Indian ruler who narrates some portions of the Anvar-i Suhayli. One shows his discovery of treasure concealed in an ascetic's cave (fig. 7); the other portrays the ruler's ascent of a mountain in Sarandib in search of enlightenment.63 The figure of Dabshalim dominates the painting set in the ascetic's cave. He is portrayed on a larger scale than the other figures and wears a vibrant red garment. By contrast, the rocky landscape around the cave is rendered in muted tones of mauve and blue-green, and it serves principally as a frame for the group in the cave. Aqa Riza's signature qualified by the epithet murzd (disciple) is also on this rocky border, below the seated king; above the king is the name of his patron, Padishah Salim. In both its composition and use of color, this painting of Dabshalim in the ascetic's cave parallels works from Iran. A similar contrast between

brightly costumed figures and a muted rendition of

landscape can be seen in a painting of a hawking party that once served as a manuscript frontispiece.64

The Iranian affinities of Aqa Riza's style are even more striking when his painting of Dabshalim in the ascetic's cave is compared with a similar event depicted in an Iranian manuscript of the same text dated to 1593.65 In both instances, color is used to draw attention to the principal figures, and the landscape setting serves basically as a frame for the three men. The figural style in the 1593 manuscript is also comparable to that of Aqa Riza. The posture of the standing atten- dant outside the cave is similar to that of figures by Aqa Riza. For example, Dabshalim's three companions during his ascent of the mountain of Sarandib also have a swaying stance in which the drapery of their garments counteracts the general impression of immobility given by their static pose.

The figural and landscape style used by Aqa Riza in the Anvdr-i Suhaylz is also found in his single page compositions mounted in the Muraqqa' Gulshan. Two of them, set in a wilderness, show an encounter between

princely hunters and dervishes.66 In the more elaborate

painting, this meeting occurs under a tree festooned with a grapevine. The prince dominates the scene because of his red garment and large size. Aqa Riza's signature appears on two boulders below the seated ascetic (fig. 8).

During his years of residence at the Mughal court, Aqa Riza absorbed elements of both Indian and Euro- pean origin. The date of his arrival in India is uncertain

175

?/ir

Fig. 7. Aqa Riza. Dabshalim Visits the Ascetic's Cave. London, British Library, Add 18579, Fig. 8. Aqa Riza. A Prince Visits an Ascetic in the Wilderness. Tehran, Gulistan Library. fol. 21a. (From Atab'iL Fihrist-i muraqqaCdt-i kitabkh na-ye saltanati (Tehran, 1353S.), pl.

followin~ p. 346.)


but he was clearly at the Mughal court, then resident in Lahore, during the year of his son Abu'l-Hasan's birth in 997 (1588-89).67 At that time Jahangir was fascinated by European art, which he knew primarily from prints brought to India by various missionaries. One of Aga Riza's tasks must have been to copy them.

Figures excerpted from European compositions are found in his earliest known work, a border from the

Muraqqac Gulshan completed at Agra in Ramadan 1008

(March-April 1600), on which figures in European dress are placed against a dense foliage ground of Ira- nian inspiration. Other figures in this and other borders signed by Aqa Riza depict individuals in

Mughal court costume.68

Aqa Riza may also have encouraged his students to

copy European prints. The earliest known painting by his son, Abu'l-Hasan, is a copy of a work by Diirer.69 Some copies of European prints in the Muraqqac Gulshan are by Nadira Banu, who mentions that she is Aqa Riza's student.70 The painter Ghulam who worked in a style close to that of Aqa Riza and is assumed to have been his student also copied a European work for Salim.71

Although the combination of stylistic and thematic elements in Aqa Riza's border designs may appear enigmatic, his illustrative paintings reveal a distinctive

personality. The compositional and stylistic sources he selected for those illustrations were especially appropriate to their themes. Two paintings from the Anvar-i Suhaylz exemplify his use of elements from different artistic traditions. The feast of a Yemeni ruler is set before an Iranian architectural backdrop. The

building is conceived as a series of flat, patterned sur- faces. While the ruler and his attendants are absorbed in their celebration, a former chamberlain who had entered the palace by stealth slips a golden dish under his robe.72 By way of contrast, the Mughal method of

depicting architecture is used in the story of Ghanim and his climb to the summit of a mountain (fig. 9). When, after many hardships, he reaches the summit, he sees a city in the plain below. As he descends toward

it, the city's inhabitants invite him to be their ruler.73 The story of Ghanim's trials and rewards may have been seen as a parallel to Salim's struggle to gain the throne from his father Akbar. Certainly Ghanim's pro- spective kingdom has a decidely Indian cast, both in the details of its architecture and the volumetric depiction of its buildings. Over the city's gate is an inscription giving Salim's name, Abu'l-Muzaffar Sultan Salim Shah.

Further evidence for Aqa Riza's wit and his use of

paintings to convey personal messages to his patron is found in an illustration to a dfvan of Hafiz prepared for

Jahangir sometime after the latter's accession to the throne-the manuscript has no colophon and the date of its illustration is still in question.74 Aqa Riza's painting illustrates verses concerning a drunken faqih who has just issued a legal opinion declaring wine to be more beneficial than the revenues of pious foundations. Aqa Riza's signature is placed near the painting's left

margin behind the head of a bearded man (fig. 10).75 The painting could be viewed as a satirical attack on those who argue the benefits of wine-drinking and

possibly even as a warning for Jahangir himself, since the depiction of inebriation is particularly graphic-the drunkenfaqih lurches forward and one of his companions is depicted vomiting. Once more an inscription on the architecture is used to reinforce Aqa Riza's

message. It reads "al-salat Clmad al-Din" (the prayer of CImad al-Din), a poet contemporary with Hafiz whose

extravagant and somewhat hypocritical piety was ridiculed by the latter.76 For this composition Aqa Riza uses architecture depicted according to Persian con- ventions.

During Salim's period of rebellion against Akbar, Aqa Riza was one of the leading artists in the former's

entourage. He may well have helped in the selection of themes to be illustrated for the Anvar-i Suhayli manu-

script, now in London. Certainly his son, Abu'l-

Hasan, was given a pivotal scene to illustrate in what

may have been his first assignment as a manuscript illustrator. Abu'l-Hasan depicted Dabshalim's meeting with Bidpai, an encounter that was the climax of the ruler's search for enlightenment.77 The characteriza- tion of Dabshalim standing regally but humbly before the sage may well have been intended as a portrayal of Salim (fig. 11). This painting also demonstrates the manner in which Abu'l-Hasan took his father's com-

positional canon and invested it with a new energy and

sublety through his extraordinary dexterity. Abu'l- Hasan's combination of linear control gained from the Iranian tradition with a use of color to suggest form and volume is a refined extension of Aqa Riza's own style, even though the accomplishments of the son have caused him to overshadow his father's achievements.

Jahangir's disdainful remarks about Aqa Riza have often been cited as evidence that this artist lacked

originality.78 A closer examination of his signed works

suggests, however, that his skill, particularly as an illustrator, was considerable. He may well have played

177

Fig. 9. Aqa Riza. Ghanim Ascends the Mountain. London, British Library, Add. 18579, 54b.

Fig. 10. Aqa Riza. The Drunken Faqih Issues an Opinion. London, British Library, Or. 7573, fol. 25a.

"-4

?0

r

C

0 n


Fig. 11. Abu'l Hasan ibn Aqa Riza. Dabshalim before Bidpai. London, British Library, Add. 18579, fol. 41b.

an important role in assembling the paintings for

Jahangir's albums and in designing borders of album leaves. Another, still little known, facet of his career is his work as the designer of the Khusraw Bagh, a garden

in Allahabad, a task probably begun ca. 1603, but completed only after Jahangir's accession to the throne.79 Finally there is his importance as a teacher not only of his son Abu'l-Hasan, but also of Nadira Banu and possibly of Mirza Ghulam. Evidence suggests that in his teaching as well as in his painting, Aqa Riza used both European and Iranian models. This self-conscious eclecticism was the distinguishing feature of Aqa Riza's painting.

This examination of the careers of Mir CAli al- Haravi, (Abd al-Samad Shirazi, and Aqa Riza al- Haravi demonstrates that several factors encouraged connections between the art of Iran and that of Mughal India. The desire of the Mughal dynasty to maintain cultural ties with Iran appears to have been of considerable importance, and they may well have actively encouraged painters and calligraphers in their employ to emulate the achievements of earlier artists such as Mir (Ali. The role of Persian artists such as CAbd al- Samad and Mir Sayyid (Ali as teachers and organizers of manuscript workshops also served to increase their impact on other artists at the Mughal courts. Aqa Riza's importance also appears to have derived as much from his role as a teacher as from his skill as an artist. In addition, the paintings that can be clearly ascribed either to (Abd al-Samad or to Aqa Riza pro- vide a glimpse of how artists trained in the traditional Iranian techniques reacted to the diverse pictorial sources available to them at the Mughal courts.

Institute of Fine Arts New York University New York, New York

NOTES

1. Babur, The Babur-name in English, trans. A. S. Beveridge (London, 1922), vol. 1, pp. 71-87, 300-6.

2. Abu'l Fazl CAllami, The A,n-iAkbari, trans. H. Blochmann, ed. D. C. Phillot (Calcutta, 1939), vol. 1, pp. 108-9, 113; [Jahangir], 7he ?'zuk-i-JahangTri, trans. A. Rogers, ed. H. Beveridge, 2d ed. (New Delhi, 1968), vol. 2, p. 118.

3. Ivan Stchoukine, Les peintures des manuscrits timurides (Paris, 1969), no. 38, pp. 55-56;

4. Ibid., no. 82, 81-83; Abu'l Fazl, 7he Akbarnama, trans. H. Beveridge (Calcutta, 1897), vol. 1, pp. 309-10.

5. Stchoukine, Peintures des manuscrits timurides, no. 81, pp. 78-81. 6. For example, see Yedda Goddard, "Un album de portraits des

princes timurides de 1'Inde," Athar-e Iran 2 (1939): 266, fig. 110; Badri Atabai, Fihrist-i muraqqaadt-i kitabkhana-ye saltanati (Tehran, 1353 S.), following p. 364.

179

PRISCILLA P. SOUCEK

7. For Safavid examples, see Stuart Cary Welch, Persian Painting (New York, 1976), figs. E, F; pls. 1, 25, 26, 30.

8. For example, see L. Binyon, J. V. S. Wilkinson, Basil Gray, Persian Miniature Painting (London, 1933), p. 98, no. 82,

pl. 71A; M. S. Ipsiroglu, Saray Alben (Wiesbaden, 1964). 9. Jeremiah P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India (London, 1982),

nos. 59, 61, 62; pp. 79-80, 88, 89-90; pl. 18, 23. 10. CAbd ul-Baql Nihavandl, Ma5asir-i Rahzmi, ed. M. Hidayat

Husain (Calcutta, 1932), vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 1678-80; M. Mahfuzul Haq, "The Khan Khanan and His Painters, Illuminators, and Calligraphists," Islamic Culture 5 (1931): 627-29.

11. Priscilla Soucek, "Afsan," Encyclopaedia Iranica (forthcoming). 12. Losty, Art of the Book in India, pp. 55, 64-67, 76, 78. 13. Abu'l Fazl, The Atn-i Akbari, 1:108-9. 14. Nihavandi, Madasir-i Rahimi, vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 1681-82. 15. Ernst Kuhnel and Hermann Goetz, Indian Book Painting

(London, 1926), pp. 2-7, pls. 21-23, 25, 26, 28-30; Ataba'), Fihrist-i muraqqa'at, pp. 334-42; the Tehran album is said to contain 99 examples of Mir CAli's work. Isolated pages, once part of the Berlin or Tehran albums, also preserve calligraphy by Mir 'Ali. On these, see Milo Beach, The Grand Mogul

(Williamstown, 1978), pp. 46-59, nos. 6, 7, 10-12. 16. The New York portion (Metropolitan Museum of Art 55.121)

contains 27 examples of Mir CAli's calligraphy; 3 of the Freer

pages preserve his calligraphy (F. G. A. no. 39.50', 48.28", and 39.49'; Milo Beach, The Imperial Image. Paintings for the

Mughal Court (Washington, D.C., 1981), pp. 181, 185, 188. 17. Among them a manuscript of Khusraw Dihlavi's Matlac al-

Anwar (now in the Bankipore Public Library) copied by Mir

CAli in 947 (1540-41) for Sultan CAbd al-CAziz of Bukhara (Asok K. Das, Mughal Painting duringJahangir's Time [Calcutta, 1978], pp. 100, n. 76); a manuscript of Sacdi's Bustan copied by Mir CAli al-Husayni in 938 (1521) for Sultan CAbd al-CAziz of

Bukhara. It contains later paintings by Mughal court artists

(Ernst Grube, The Classical Style in Islamic Painting [n.p., 1968], pp. 203-4, no. 97. Mir CAli's role in the creation of a manu-

script of SaCdi's Gulistan that contains paintings dedicated to Akbar is uncertain. Although it is said to have been copied by Mir CAli at Bukhara, it is dated to 975 (1567-68), a generation after his death (Losty, Art of the Book in India, p. 86, no. 55).

18. Abu'l Fazl, The Ain-i Akbari, 1:108-9.

19. Atabaai, Fihrist, pp. 334-42.

20. Ibid., pls. following pp. 350 and 346.

21. QazT Ahmad, Gulistan-i Hunar(Tehran, 1352), pp. 78-84; idem,

Calligraphers and Painters. A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad, trans. V. Minorsky, Freer Gallery of Art Occasional papers

(Washington, D.C., 1959), pp. 126-31.

22. Yasin H. Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy (London, 1978), no. 111, p. 99.

23. Anthony Welch and Stuart Cary Welch, Arts of the Islamic Book

(Ithaca, 1982), no. 56, pp. 164, 166; Atabafi, Fihrist, pl. follow-

ing p. 358. 24. Mehdi Bayanl, Khushnivisan Nastacltq-nivi-sdn (Tehran, 1348 S.),

pp. 493-516. 25. Baha al-Din Hasan Nithari Bukharl, Mudhakkir-i- Ahbab, ed.

M. Fazlallah (New Delhi, 1969), pp. 75, 294-99.

26. Qazi Ahmad, Gulistan-i Hunar, pp. 90-91; idem, Calligraphers and Painters, pp. 138-40.

27. Bayani, Khushnivisan, pp. 659-61.

28. Abu'l Fazl, A'n-i Akbari, 1:108-9.

29. Nihavandi, Mada.sir-i-Rahlmi, vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 1681-82.

30. Ibid., p. 1678; Mahfuzul Haq, "Khan Khanan," p. 628;

BayanL, Khushnivisan, pp. 389-91. 31. Welch and Welch, Arts of the Islamic Book, pp. 164, 166; no. 56. 32. Atabail, Fihrist, pp. 341-42, 366-67. 33. Tuzuk-i Jahangiri, 1:168. 34. R. Pinder-Wilson, "Three Illustrated Manuscripts of the

Mughal Period," Ars Orientalis 2 (1957): 414-15, figs. 1-5. 35. For the style of Mushfiq, see Beach, Imperial Image, pp. 142-46,

esp. fig. 26. 36. Abu'l Fazl, The A4in-i Akbari, 1:554-55; idem, The Akbarnama,

1:444-45. 37. Pramod Chandra, Tuti-Nama of the Cleveland Museum of Art and

the Origins of Mughal Painting (Graz, 1976), no. 84, p. 23. 38. Abu'l Fazl, The An-i Akbari, 1:114. 39. Martin B. Dickson and Stuart Cary Welch, The Houghton

Shahnameh, 2 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1981), 1:178-80. 40. AtabaLi, Fihrist, pp. 351-52. Its inscription specifies that the 965

(1558) painting was executed in a single morning (Binyon, Wilkinson, and Gray, Persian Miniature Painting, p. 148, nos.

232-33, pl. 105 B. 41. Ibid., pp. 147-48, no. 230, pl. 104 B. 42. Stuart Cary Welch, Wonders of the Age. Masterpieces of Early

Safavid Painting. 1501-1576 (Cambridge, Mass., 1979), pp. 56-

57, 158-60, nos. 11, 59. 43. Abu'l Fazl, 7heAkbarnama, 1:114. 44. For example, see Losty, Art of the Book in India, nos. 64-66,

pl. 24; Grube, Classical Style, nos. 91-93; Stuart Cary Welch, The Art of Mughal India (New York, 1963), no. 8 B.

45. Now in the Freer Gallery of Art, 63.4'; Beach, Imperial Image, no. 16d, pp. 73, 164-65.

46. Sacdi, Kulliydt, ed. M. A. Furughi (Tehran, 1340 S.), p. 31.5-7;

idem, Morals Pointed and Tales Adorned. The Bustan of SaCdi, trans.

G. M. Wickens (Toronto, 1974), p. 3. 47. Sacdl, Kulliyat, p. 226; idem, Morals Pointed and 7ales Adorned,

p. 228.11-12. 48. Sa'dl, Kulliyat, p. 224.15-16; idem, Morals Pointed and 7ales

Adorned, p. 222. 49. A. Christensen, Les types du premier homme et du premier roi, pt. 2,

Jim (Leiden, 1934), pp. 61-71, 83-85, 94-98.

50. Welch, Wonders of the Age, pp. 166-67, no. 62. 51. The Arts of India and Nepal. The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collec-

tion (New York, [1966]), no. 198. 52. Beach, Grand Mogul, pp. 44-46, no. 5 r.

53. Losty, Art of the Book in India, pl. 23. 54. B. W. Robinson et al., Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book

(London, 1976), pp. 244-45, nos. V:30, 36, pl. 116.

55. Dickson and Welch, Houghton Shahnameh, vol. 1, fig. 251.

56. Beach, Imperial Image, pp. 215-23; Losty, Arts of the Book, pp. 80,

90-91, no. 65, pl. 21. 57. P. Brown, Indian Painting under the Mughals (Oxford, 1924),

pl. 36. 58. Ataba-i, Fihrist, pl. following p. 351; Welch and Welch, Arts of

the Islamic Book, pp. 160-62, no. 55. 59. Soucek, "'Abd al-Samad Sirazi, " Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 166-

67, pl. VI; Binyon, Wilkinson, and Gray, Persian Miniature

Painting, pp. 130-31, no. 132, pl. 87 A; an inscription specifies that Bihzad executed this work in his seventieth year.

60. Tuzuk-i-Jahanglri, 2:20. 61. Beach, Grand Mogul, pp. 88, 90. 62. Ibid., p. 94; J. V. S. Wilkinson, The Lights of Canopus (London,

1929), pls. 2-5, 7, 29. 63. Ibid., pls. 3,5.

180


64. Welch, Wonders of the Age, pp. 214-16, no. 85. 65. Anthony Welch, Artistsfor the Shah (New Haven, 1976), fig. 48. 66. Atabali, Fihrist, p. 353, and pls. following p. 346. 67. Beach, Grand Mogul, p. 92. 68. Yedda Godard, "Les marges du Murakkac Gulshan: Les

marges d'Aka Rida," Athar-e Iran 1 (1936): 13-18, figs. 1-8. 69. L. Ashton, ed., The Art of India and Pakistan (London, [1950]),

no. 655, pl. 128. 70. Das, Mughal Painting duringJahangir's Time, p. 50, 235, pl. 70. 71. Ibid., p. 237. 72. Wilkinson, Lights of Canopus, pl. 29, H. Kashifi, Anvdr-i Suhayli

(Tehran, 1336 S.), pp. 454-55, esp. 455.4-5. 73. Wilkinson, Lights of Canopus, pl. 7; Kashifi, Anvar-i Suhayli,

pp. 79-80, esp. p. 80.14-16.

74. British Library, Or. 7573, fol. 25a (Ivan Stchoukine, "Quel- ques images de Jahangir dans un divan de Hafiz," Gazette des Beaux Arts, 6th ser. 6 July-Dec. 1931), pl. 161, fig. 1; Losty, Art of the Book in India, p. 95, no. 76; Das, Mughal Painting during Jahangir's Time, pp. 52-53.

75. Hafiz, Divan, ed. R. Clyazi and A. Bahruz (Tabriz, 1977), p. 64.1,4.

76. Ibid., p. 138; E. G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia (Cambridge, 1956). vol. 3, p. 258.

77. Wilkinson, Lights of Canopus, pl. 6; Kashifi, Anvdr-i Suhayli, pp. 60-61, esp. p. 60.11-15.

78. Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, 2:20. 79. M. A. Chaghtai, "Aqa Riza-'Ali Riza-Riza-i Abbasi," Islamic

Culture 12 (1938): 436-37.

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Persian Artists in Mughal India

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