Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c22.53

c22.53

The Irani *qalam*, or style of Iran (Persia), needs little explanation, and will be readily recognized as connected with those Mughal pictures which show direct Persian influence, or were painted after the Safavid manner. Not only many of the early pictures but a number of those of a later date show that the Persian influence persisted right through the history of the Mughal school. The *siyāhī qalam* takes its name from the fact that it signifies a picture executed in a black or ink (*siyāhī*) outline, little or no colour being introduced. It is said to have been a style brought direct from Persia; a good example may be studied on Plate VIII, Fig. 1. It found considerable favour with the Mughal artists, some of their finest work, especially their portraiture, being drawn in this *qalam*. A black colour was generally used, but a dark sepia is not uncommon, and sometimes a few touches of gold were added to heighten the effect, but the idea of the *siyāhī qalam* is to show the artist's command of pure line. Of the subsidiary *qalams*, which have been already referred to as provincial developments of the Delhi *qalam*, a very brief account is necessary, as they mainly represent the Mughal school after its best period. They were the result of the migrations of the artists to various cities where they thought patronage of their craft might be found after the Mughal court had begun to decline. Such migrations produced the purely local styles of Murshidabad and Patna, which had a fleeting reputation within the first half of the nineteenth century. Each of these *qalams* had its own character, the Patna style although hard in feeling was quite good in technique, because the original progenitor of this small community had been a skilful exponent of the old Delhi school. The Lucknow *qalam* which flourished at the court of Oude during the early years of the nineteenth century displays Mughal art at its worst and merits no special mention. In the Deccan at Hyderabad a few artists seem to have settled and produced a form of painting very much akin to the Delhi *qalam*, but rather more minute in its technique and smaller in handling generally. It is of little interest except that it probably afforded the connecting link between the Mughal school and the southern Indian developments which have been described in a previous chapter. The Kashmiri *qalam* is a somewhat elusive style of painting, a slightly spiritless imitation of the Delhi work, showing good drawing and colouring but a lack of vigour and character when compared with the best Mughal painting.