Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c14.24.3

c14.24.3

In its general scheme, in its architecture, and in its decorative detail, it is essentially Persian; while in its figures, in some of the foliage, and in its atmosphere, there is much that can only be styled Rājput. It is a brilliant piece of colouring, enriched with much gold. Tansen, with a small group of musicians, is seen below the emperor in the left centre of the picture. That the painter of this miniature borrowed largely from the work of Bihzad is shown by the general scheme of his picture, which repeats in many respects a favourite composition of the great master of the Persian school. The graceful but effeminate architecture, the plan of the garden, the cypress trees and the almond blossom, the ornamental pond and fountain, the high retaining wall in the foreground, with the doorkeeper at the gate leaning on his staff, all these have been taken bodily from one of Bihzad’s motifs, and adapted to suit an Indian scene. The colour-scheme is from the same source. But imposed on this Persian basis there is much that is Indian; the figures are more personal, the doorkeeper is clearly a study from life, the elephant is drawn only as an Indian could draw this animal; the realistic touch is visible in the sais putting his arm over the neck of his horse to caress it; in the garden the less formal and native plantain and banyan mingle with the stiff and decorative Persian trees; all these details suggest that the picture was produced in an Indian environment.