Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c16.14

c16.14

It may be inferred from this and other circumstances that although Shah Jahan took no little pleasure in the productions of his official painters, he had not that passion for pictures which was such a notable characteristic of his predecessors. While he maintained on his staff a limited and select body of highly trained artists, in numbers these were nothing to be compared with the great concourse of painters who for over a generation had been dependent on the patronage of the Mughal rulers. In reducing the numbers of this class of retainer, for such a course was undoubtedly adopted, Shah Jahan unconsciously took the step of decentralizing this art and making it less of an imperial monopoly. The groups of painters who had flocked around Akbar’s and Jahangir’s courts, finding their services no longer required under the new régime, after a time began to cast around for other means of support. Premonitions of an approaching change in the status of the artists had already taken place. Towards the end of Jahangir’s reign this sovereign’s enthusiasm for pictures showed signs of being communicated to the noblemen and chiefs of his ministry, who, proud to follow in the footsteps of such a connoisseur, soon drew some of the state artists around themselves. In the reign of his successor Shah Jahan, the custom spread, especially as more artists were available owing to the changed conditions at the court. No longer were pictures produced for the sole edification of the emperor, or artists retained only for the purpose of decorating the royal summer-houses and pavilions; instead the leading families found it fashionable to keep in their service painters, whom they employed either in ornamenting the walls of their houses with pictures, or immortalizing the features of the chief members. Such a one was that of Asaf Khan, a high official of the Punjab, under Shah Jahan, whose palace in Lahore was so elegantly decorated with paintings as to be mentioned by several writers. The immense series of portraits of all kinds of people, executed at this time, which forms the bulk of most modern collections, shows that the art of miniature painting had ceased to be entirely aristocratic, and had begun to assume a more popular form. Moreover, the encouragement of painting was not entirely confined to the Mughals. The emperors of Bijapur, an important Muhammadan state in the Deccan which kept its independence until conquered by Aurangzeb in 1686, greatly favoured this art, and engaged many craftsmen to paint portraits on the walls of their palatial courts, remains of which may be seen at the present day. Several members of the dynasty were also ardent bibliophiles, and employed artists to illustrate books for them, some of which, bearing their royal seal, have survived.¹