Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c22.49

c22.49

Indian collectors as a rule kept their pictures in a *muraqqa‘*, or album, so that instead of leaving the reverse side of the miniature plain, a condition which is never satisfying to the Indian mind, it became customary to decorate these with some form of the painters’ or writers’ art, usually a combination of the two. Plate LXXII shows one method of treating the back of a miniature which was not uncommon in the latter half of the sixteenth century. It is what is known as a *qit‘a*, or example of elegant writing and illumination, the actual calligraphy in this picture being from the pen of Mir Ali of Herat, a celebrated *kātib* who died in 1558–9. But while the writing is good, the embellishment around it is equally fine, the colour scheme being blue, apple-green, Indian red, yellow, and gold, all arranged in the most effective manner. The minute handling in all these paintings was of course largely a matter of expert training, but added to this the eyesight that allowed such delicate detail to be introduced into the design must have been a remarkable gift. Much of the work of the school, even of this fine character, was done without any magnifying appliances, although in the seventeenth century the artists were using spectacles as some of the portraits of the Persian miniaturists prove. When the miniature collector could not afford to have the reverse of his picture decorated with such an expensive design as the one here illustrated, he ordered the mounter to add something of a simpler nature, which the *vasligar* was always ready to do. For this craftsman had a selection of designs which he could place on the back of the picture, many of them appropriate to the subject on the front. If the latter depicted a love scene (*dillā*), or any happy event, he painted in the middle of the reverse side a spray of maidenhair (*sambal*), saffron (*kaisar*), or passion flower (*kurnphul*), while if the subject was a sad one or a departure, he introduced a poppy flower (*gul lāla*), or prickly pear (*nāgphanī*).