Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c22.26

c22.26

Such was the ordinary course of instruction to which the Mughal art student was expected to apply himself during the first years of his apprenticeship. When not engaged in this manner he was employed in learning all about the technical processes of the painters’ craft. An early lesson in this branch of his training consisted in knowing how to smooth the rough surface of the paper, which he brought to an enamel-like condition by burnishing it with a piece of polished agate. On the surface thus prepared he learned to ‘pounce’ the outlines of pictures from a tracing (*khāka*) drawn on a thin transparent sheet of deer skin (*charba*). ‘Pouncing’ is the term employed by artists to describe the process of transferring a drawing on to the paper or material on which the picture is to be painted. To make a pouncing the original drawing is pricked with a sharp metal point into a series of minute pinholes all along the outlines. This forms a kind of outline stencil plate which is securely fixed over the surface of the paper on which the transfer is to be made (in the case of a mural painting it is attached to the surface of the wall). Through the pinholes finely powdered charcoal is dusted by means of a ‘pouncer’, as the small muslin bag is called in which it is contained. When the stencil is removed an exact replica of the original sketch is found on the surface underneath, formed by the charcoal dust passing through the pinholes. This dotted outline has to be gone over with a brush at once, otherwise it will be easily wiped off and disappear. The importance of being thoroughly trained in this process is emphasized in the *Manāqib-i-Hunarvārān*,¹ a sixteenth-century Persian work dealing with the art of painting in general. Having set forth the methods employed by the artists, the author proceeds to describe the manner in which the desired dexterity in this branch of his craft is attained. ‘After having made his transfer, the pupil begins to draw over the pounced charcoal lines. All the details of the original are now carefully observed and noted. This process of tracing is practised for several years until the hand of the pupil has become accustomed to the work. From this constant practice the details and characteristics of the various forms become fixed in his mind. When the course of study has arrived at this stage, the young artist is considered capable of tracing exactly all the figures that are required.’ In the East the process here referred to was a very old one, pouncings have been unearthed in Eastern Turkestan which were used by mural painters as early as the eighth century of the present era. Most collections of Indian painting contain examples of these ‘pouncing stencils’, which are very careful drawings in black ink finely perforated along all the outlines, and discoloured from the frequent application of the charcoal dust.