Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c14.37.2

c14.37.2

The master-painters of the school were the two Persians, Abdus Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali, but the remainder consisted almost entirely of Hindus. For the skill of the indigenous artist had not passed unnoticed by the observant emperor, and a selection of these craftsmen had been made, so that they might work in conjunction with the Persian painters, and thus increase the productiveness of the school. Their talent, once recognized and encouraged in this manner, seems to have astonished the Mughals, for Abu’l Fazl pays them a generous tribute and admits that ‘their pictures surpass our conceptions of things. Few indeed, in the whole world are found equal to them.’ Undoubtedly the natural genius of these Indian painters, the result of centuries of experience, only required Akbar’s patronage and the Persians’ guidance to bring it again to a high state of efficiency. As we shall see later, their services were utilized mainly in two branches of art, namely, portraiture and book illustration, which were the principal features of the pictorial section of this department. Added to this was a decorative section consisting of a staff of ‘ornamental artists, gilders, line-drawers, and pagers’ whose craftsmanship was a necessary accompaniment to the work of preparing a Mughal miniature or illuminated manuscript.