Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c11.17.1

c11.17.1

Fortunately, as the list of public and private collections at the end of this volume shows, there is ample material for such study, and the wide distribution of the examples, regrettable in one way, has also its compensations. From a variety of causes, some of which will be referred to, a very large number of the finest Indian miniatures has, in the course of time, entirely disappeared. Sufficient have survived, however, to enable us to judge of the art at its best. But it must be admitted that the mass of the material which is now known to us is of a decidedly inferior order, for even the larger collections of Indian pictures as a rule only contain a very few specimens of outstanding merit. Miniatures of a good quality are usually productions of an early date, and are rare because, owing to the passage of a longer period of time since they were executed, they have been liable to more vicissitudes, and accordingly most of their kind have perished. Later, when the art had degenerated and passed into the hands of an increasing number of less skilful craftsmen, the bazaars of Northern India were flooded with quantities of ‘commercial’ paintings, which became very common, and, it should be noted, form the bulk of our present-day collections. Out of these it is necessary to select the few fine examples which enable us to form a correct conception of the subject.