Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c15.20.2

c15.20.2

The works of this great artist were apparently difficult to obtain even in those days, and the Mughal emperor had to be content with paintings by his pupils, although none of these was so skilful as the old master himself. On another occasion a copy of *Yusuf and Zulaikha*, the oldest poetical treatment of the Biblical story of Joseph, came into his hands ‘in the handwriting of Mulla Mir Ali with illustrations and in a beautiful gilt binding, worth 1,000 muhrs’. The Mulla was a famous calligrapher, and, as it was the custom for the illustrations in these manuscripts to be of the same high standard as the writing, this would be a very valuable acquisition. But the gem of Jahangir’s collection was a signed picture by Khalil Mirza, a Timurid artist whose handiwork was at that time nearly two hundred years old. The manner in which this precious relic was obtained is told in the emperor’s own words, and shows that there was as much luck, romance, and also sordidness in these transactions in the past as there is in similar ‘deals’ of the present day. It appears to have been originally in the royal library of one of the Safavid kings of Persia, but ‘a person of the name of Sadiqi, a librarian of his, had stolen it, and sold it to some one.