Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c13.6

c13.6

Persian painting has been resolved into several broad chronological divisions, the three most important being the Mongol, the Timurid, and Safavid. Previous to the Mongol, and up to the middle of the thirteenth century, a style of painting was practised in Mesopotamia which may be classed as Primitive. Then ensued the Mongol from 1250 to 1360, a century of infinite importance, as it brought into the art of painting new elements from the Far East. This was succeeded by the Timurid, which flourished at Samarqand, Bukhara, and Herat, from 1375 to 1500, gradually merging into the Safavid, with its principal seat at Tabriz. Under the Safavid dynasty during the sixteenth century it reached its most mature state, only to decline rapidly in the seventeenth century. A short account of these different phases of Persian painting will give an outline of the progress of the art until it sent out its offshoot to Hindustan.