A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s1.48

c20.s1.48

The illustration of manuscripts was only one form of Indo-Persian art, and that, as M. Blochet truly observes, was not always the most successful. The book illustrations, like those in the Clarke MS. of the *Akbarnāmah* at South Kensington, even when executed by Basāwan, Daswanth, and other famous artists, are generally inferior to Persian work. The highest achievements of the Indian draughtsmen and colourists were often attained in separate pictures of varying sizes, which were frequently bound in albums, like that given by Dārā Shukoh to his beloved wife. The British Museum collection includes many such albums, some of which, such as Hāfiz Rahmat's volume above noticed, constitute historical portrait galleries of the deepest interest. The fashion set by the court of Delhi and followed by all the feudatory courts and many individual nobles, was passed on to the wealthy English 'Nabobs' in the latter part of the eighteenth century, who gladly seized opportunities of procuring specimens and bringing them home. Certain pictures in B.M. MS. Add. 18801 were much admired by Sir Joshua Reynolds in July, 1777.