A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s2: Section II. The Artists and their Works

A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s2

Language: English

Section II. The Artists and their Works

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The Indo-Persian or Mughal school of drawing and painting having lived in considerable vigour from about A. D. 1570 to 1820 or 1830—a period, roughly speaking, of two centuries and a half—and not being quite dead even now, naturally produced an enormous output. The extant works, notwithstanding all the mishaps to which Indian art has been exposed, still can be numbered by thousands. Almost at the very beginning of the operations of the school, about the year 1590, when Abūl Fazl, the minister of Akbar, wrote his memorable description of his sovereign's administration, a hundred artists were reckoned to be masters of their craft, while tolerable practitioners were past counting. During the reigns of Akbar's son and grandson, in the first half of the seventeenth century, when the new form of art grafted upon the stock of ancient Indian tradition attained its highest development, the number of proficients must have increased. Although the long-continued political and social agony which accompanied the decline and fall of the Mughal empire necessarily limited the opportunities for the practice of art and diminished its rewards, art did not die, and as we have seen in Chapter IX, a synthesis between Hindu tradition and Persian technique produced a new variety of Indian pictorial art possessing high merits. It is plain, therefore, that even when the eighteenth-century mythological painting is placed on one side for separate treatment, the mass of material to be dealt with by the historian is enormous, and that it is not possible within reasonable limits to do more than select a small number of typical examples.

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Many, perhaps most, of the extant Indo-Persian compositions are anonymous, but hundreds are signed, and it would not be difficult to compile a list of the names of from one hundred to two hundred artists. Abūl Fazl's list of those considered by him to be the most eminent numbers seventeen persons, all of whom, with possibly one exception, are represented by extant works. In one manuscript, the *Wāqiāt-i-Bābarī*, or history of Bābar, written and illustrated about A. D. 1600, towards the close of Akbar's reign (B.M. Or. 3714), I noted the names of twenty-two artists, and probably overlooked several. Similar long lists might be put together from other collections. Unfortunately nearly all the names thus freely recorded are mere names, nothing being known concerning the men who bore them, so that the perusal of nominal lists offers little of interest.

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Perhaps the most fruitful general observation arising from such perusal is that of the predominance of Hindu names. For instance, in the *Wāqiāt-i-Bābarī* above mentioned, out of twenty-two names, nineteen are Hindu, and only three Muslim. Similarly, in Abūl Fazl's catalogue of seventeen artists, only four are Muhammadan, while thirteen are Hindu.

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The four Muhammadans named are:—(1) Mīr Sayyid Ali, the illustrator of the story of Amīr Hamzah, whose work probably is represented by the two large pictures in B.M. Or. 3600 (*ante*, p. 468); (2) Khwājah Abdul Samad (*ante*, p. 452); (3) Farrukh the Qalmāk (Calmuck); and (4) Miskīn (*ante*, p. 464). Farrukh certainly deserves high praise. He contributed good work to the Clarke MS. of the *Akbarnāmah*, and was the author of a remarkable painting in three scenes occupying a full page on the reverse of folio 13 of B.M. Or. 3714. Miskīn, who drew the outlines of two pictures (1/117, 89/117) in the Clarke MS., seems to be identical with the Ustād (*scil.* 'Master') Miskīn who painted the Good Shepherd in the Johnson Collection and the Muhammad Miskīn, author of a lady's portrait in the same collection (LVIII, 15). Both those works are early in style.

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The thirteen Hindu names in Abūl Fazl's list are:—(5) Daswanth; (6) Basāwan; (7) Kesū (Kesava); (8) Lāl; (9) Mukund; (10) Mādho; (11) Jagan[nāth]; (12) Mahēsh; (13) Khemkaran; (14) Tārā; (15) Sānwlah; (16) Haribans; and (17) Rām. The signatures of all the seventeen artists named by Abūl Fazl appear in the Clarke MS., except Haribans, No. 16; and reappear in the Jaipur *Razmnāmah*, excepting Nos. 1, 2, and 16. I do not remember seeing any picture signed by Haribans. There were two Mādhos, the Elder (*Kalān*) and the Younger (*Khurd*). Kesū (Kesava) and some other artists are similarly duplicated in the signatures. Abūl Fazl probably referred to the elder persons bearing the names. In the *Razmnāmah* I have noted twenty-eight names, of whom twenty or twenty-one are Hindu.

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The sad story of Daswanth has been told already (*ante*, p. 455). Good specimens of his work as draughtsman are to be seen in Plates XII and XV of Col. Hendley's reproduction of the Jaipur *Razmnāmah*, both of which were drawn in outline by him, and coloured respectively by Mādho the Elder and Kānhā. The subjects are Hindu legends, treated in the Persian manner, but with differences. The principal figures are distinctively Indian in feature and form, and even in the minor figures where the chubby cheeks characteristic of the Persian style are preserved, the bodies are much less elongated than in Persian pictures. The scheme of colour too is lowered in brilliancy, and indigo blue is introduced for the bodies of deities.

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Basāwan, whom some critics preferred to Daswanth, is represented by Plate XXI of the *Razmnāmah* illustrating the story of the Rāja who married the daughter of the King of the Frogs. The lady, divesting herself of her fine clothes, returned to the water and resumed her froggy form, whereupon the angry husband proceeded to kill all the frogs he could find, until the lady was restored to him. These incidents are illustrated in the picture, reproduced (Plate CXVII) from a good copy lent by Col. Hendley. The prevailing colour is green in various shades. The birds, frogs, trees, and flowers are drawn and painted with the utmost delicacy, but the general effect is marred by the intrusion of blocks of manuscript. The perspective convention is the same as that PLATE CXVII. The Rāja and the Frog Princess; by Basāwan and Bhawānī. (From a copy lent by Col. Hendley, C.I.E.)

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of the ancient bas-reliefs. If the spectator imagines that all the persons, trees, &c. are on hinges and can be raised to their feet, they will then all fall into their proper relative positions. The artist saw with his mind's eye all the figures standing up, but in order to paint them, conceived them all to be laid down on one side. The subject seems to be regarded and viewed from above, all the parts being equally bathed in light, which is not represented as coming from any particular direction. Consequently, there are no shadows, and there is hardly any shading. Strong sunlight is indicated by a wash of gold behind the big tree. The drawing is by Basāwan, the colouring by Bhawānī. I am inclined to prefer Basāwan to Daswanth.

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The two Kesūs, or Kesavas, like Daswanth, were members of the lowly Kahār or palanquin-bearer caste. The elder (Kesava-dāsa) dedicated a collection of pictures, including copies and imitations of Christian works, to Akbar in A.D. 1588 (Sam. 1646).¹

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¹ 'Assess. 9278, 9360' in Royal Library, Berlin; cited by Weber, *Ind. Ant.*, vi. 353.

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[Figure: FIG. 246. Peacocks; by Jagannāth. (B.M. Or. 3714, fol. 383 rev.)]

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I was much struck by the beauty and exquisite delicacy of the tiny peacocks painted by Jagannāth, whom Abūl Fazl designates shortly as Jagan, and hope that the accompanying illustration (Fig. 246) may be successful in conveying a true idea of the perfect execution of these little figures.

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A full-page picture of a banquet by Tiriyyā, rightly marked by a former owner as 'incomparable' (*be-nāzīr*), is a fine example of Indo-Tīmūrid style, bright, but not too garish in colour, and free from the common fault of overcrowding (Pl. CXVIII).

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The Indo-Persian artists excelled in the delineation of animals, both quadrupeds and birds, and a delightful album might be composed of their pictures of animal life. Jagannāth's peacocks have been illustrated above, and other birds will follow. I give here a capital wild buffalo by Sirōn or Sarwan (سرون) (Fig. 247).

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A charming pale green acacia by the same artist, a line-drawing, may keep it company, and be compared with Basāwan's palm-trees (Fig. 248).

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Plate CXVIII. The Banquet; by Tiriyyā, *cir.* A.D. 1600. (B. M. Or. 3714, fol. 260 rev.)

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The same manuscript contains other excellent trees by various artists, and beautiful birds by Shankar of Gūjarāt.

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The celebrated artist Mansūr, who enjoyed the special favour of Jahāngīr, and was honoured by him with a title of nobility, began his career in Akbar’s reign. Two

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[Figure: FIG. 247. Wild Buffalo; by Sarwan, *cir.* A. D. 1600. (B. M. Or. 3714, fol. 380.)]

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hunting scenes (11/117 and 62/117) in the Clarke MS. of the *Akbarnāmah* are his work. The *Wāqiāt-i-Bābarī*, B. M. Or. 3714, contains a series of eight exquisite little miniatures from his brush (Persian, Nos. 110–117, on folios 387–9), from which I select the cock, No. 113, on folio 388, and the quail on the reverse of the same folio (Figs. 249, 250).

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Mr. Havell has reproduced successfully a beautiful white crane by Mansūr in the Calcutta Art Gallery (*Indian Sculpture and Painting*, Plate LXI).

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In Dārā Shukoh's album (*ante*, p. 457) only three pictures (folios 25, 27, and 21 *b*) are dated—the dates being A.H. 1014 = A.D. 1605–6; A.H. 1018 = A.D. 1609–10; and A.H. 1043 = A.D. 1633–4. The first of those years was that in which the sceptre

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FIG. 248. Acacia; by Sarwan, *cir.* A.D. 1600. (B. M. Or. 3714, fol. 400 rev.)

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FIG. 249. Cock; by Mansūr.

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passed from the hands of Akbar to those of Jahāngīr; the third falls in the reign of Shahjahān. Six of the paintings (folios 17 *b*, 18, 19 *b*, 33 *b*, 35 *b*, and 45 *b*) seem to include portraits of Jahāngīr (Prince Salīm) in his youth and early manhood. The collection, as a whole, therefore, may be ascribed to the time of Jahāngīr and the earlier part of Shahjahān's reign, or in other words, to the first forty years of the seventeenth century.

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The only signed composition is that on folio 21 *b*, dated 1633-4, which bears the name of Muhammad Khān. The picture is characteristic of Jahāngīr's bibulous court. It represents a young man clad in a bright yellow robe and large green turban, kneeling before a vase of flowers and a golden dish containing four earthenware jars, and engaged in pouring red wine from a jewelled goglet into a cup held in his left hand. No shading is used.

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The picture on folio 18, of special excellence, is selected for reproduction (Pl. CXIX).

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The birds in this album, exquisitely drawn and coloured, are worthy of Mansūr and may possibly be from his brush. I admire particularly the picture on folio 8 of a long-legged, brown bird standing by the side of a pool fringed with grass, flowers, and bamboos in tolerably good perspective. The blue sky, unfortunately, is rather crude (Plate CXX).

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FIG. 250. Quail, by Mansūr.

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Another remarkable bird study is that on folio 10 representing admirably a wild duck standing by the side of a pool at the foot of a hillock (Pl. CXXI). The sunlight on the face of the hillock is boldly indicated, as in Basāwan's picture (*ante*, Pl. CXVII), by a wash of gold, with surprisingly fine effect. I fear that it is impossible to reproduce this effect by modern processes, but the appended photographs may give the reader some notion of the exquisite beauty of these two pictures. Such charming delineations of bird-life evidently were suggested by Chinese example, and may be compared with the picture of the white falcon in the British Museum, attributed to the Emperor Hui Tsung in the twelfth century (Bushell, *Chinese Art*, vol. ii, Plate opp. p. 138). Hsieh Chi, in the seventh century, was a specialist in painting cranes. No Chinese work could surpass the picture of the turkey-cock, ordered specially by Jahāngīr, and now in the Calcutta Art Gallery, reproduced by Mr. Havell in Pl. LXII of *Indian Sculpture and Painting*. The name of the artist is not known.¹

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¹ See *Memoirs of Jahāngīr*, transl. Rogers and Beveridge (1909), p. 215.

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The handsome album, B. M. Add. 22363, mostly devoted to Hindu mythological subjects, by eighteenth-century artists, dealt with in Chapter IX, includes two [Figure: PLATE CXIX. Jahāngīr as Prince Salīm, anonymous. (Fol. 18 of Dārā Shukoh’s album.)]

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The picture on folio 2*a*, of special excellence, is selected for reproduction (Pl. CXIX).

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The birds in this album, exquisitely drawn and coloured, are worthy of Mansūr and may possibly be from his brush. I admire particularly the picture on folio 8 of a bird like a quail, with brown plumage, standing by the side of a pool fringed with grass, flowers, and bamboos in extraordinarily good perspective. The blue sky, unfortunately, is rather coarse (Text, Fig. 250).

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FIG. 250. Quail, by Mansūr.

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¹ See *Memoirs of Jahāngīr*, transl. Rogers and Beveridge (1909), p. 215.

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The handsome album, B. M. Add. 22363, mostly devoted to Hindu mythological subjects, by eighteenth-century artists, dealt with in Chapter IX, includes two This page is blank and contains no printed text.

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works on fol. 28 which seem to date from the seventeenth century, namely, an excellent brown hawk on the obverse (Fig. 251), and a pair of camels, one of which is giving suck, on the reverse (Fig. 252). This latter drawing is in *grisaille* of a sepia tint, with sufficient shading to give the appearance of relief, and the herbage is treated with great delicacy.

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[Figure: FIG. 251. Brown hawk. (B. M. Add. 22363, fol. 28 obv.)]

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The works of the Indo-Persian draughtsmen and painters furnish a gallery of historical portraits, lifelike and perfectly authentic, which enable the historian to realize the personal appearance of all the Mughal emperors and of almost every public man of note in India for more than two centuries.¹ It may be doubted if any other Plate CXXI. Wild duck, anonymous. (Fol. 10, Dārā Shukoh’s album.)

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¹ They are, as stated, perfectly authentic for the men, but I share Manucci's doubts about the authenticity of the numerous supposed likenesses of Nūrjahān and other ladies. The rigid seclusion of females prescribed by Muslim usage seems to preclude the possibility of real portraits of ladies of rank.

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works on fol. 28 which seem to date from the seventeenth century, namely, an excellent byone hawk or the chirgh (Fig. 251), and a pair of camels, one of which is giving suck to her colts (Fig. 252). This latter drawing is in *grisaille* of a sepia tint, with delicate shading to give the appearance of relief, and the herbage is treated with great delicacy.

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[Figure: FIG. 251. Byone hawk. (B. M. Add. 24385, fol. 28 obv.)]

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The works of the Indo-Persian draughtsmen and painters furnish a gallery of historical portraits, lifelike and perfectly authentic, which enable the historian to realize the personal appearance of all the Mughal emperors and of almost every public man of note in India for more than two centuries.¹ It may be doubted if any other This page appears to be entirely blank, containing no printed text, figures, or page furniture.

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¹ They are, as stated, portraits exclusively of the men, but I share Manucci’s opinion that the authenticity of the numerous supposed likenesses of Nūrjahān and other ladies. The rigid seclusion of females prescribed by Muslim usage seems to preclude the possibility of real portraits of ladies of rank.

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Plate CXXII. Akbar leaning on his sword; anonymous. (B. M. Add. 21928, fol. 4 *a*.)

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.auomynonA ; browa aid no gainael redkA .IIXXƆ ƎTA⅃ꟼ (.d 𝛢 .loł ,8ɛeɪs .bbA .M .ᙠ)

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country in the world possesses a better series of portraits of the men who made history. Pictures of this class are so numerous, and so many of such excellence, that it is difficult to make a representative selection. One of the most interesting early portraits is that of Akbar as an elderly man, standing leaning on his sword; the costume is tinted in pale colours with a little gold. The artist's name is not known (Plate CXXII).

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Portraits of Akbar are too many for specification in detail. One (B. M. Add. 18801, fol. 10) shows him standing with Prince Salīm (Jahāngīr) as a child beside him;

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FIG. 252. Camels, *grisaille*. (B. M. Add. 22363, fol. 28 rev.)

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and another (B. M. Add. 22470, fol. 4) exhibits him as the enthroned monarch hearing a woman's petition. The principal courtiers in this latter scene are all represented by careful likenesses with the names attached in minute script. Volume lvii of the Johnson Collection in the India Office Library, presented in 1816 by Dr. Buchanan (Hamilton), contains fifty-three rather rough sketches of princes and nobles, including Akbar's friends, Abūl Fazl, Bīrbal, and Rāja Mān Singh. Volume lviii of the same collection is mostly filled with similar sketches of better quality and some unfinished portraits. No. 18, a finished work by Miskīn, may be the earliest in the set.

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Plate CXXIII, from a photograph by Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy, is a good example of the numerous court scenes, and includes a faithful likeness of Jahāngīr.

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Plate CXXIII. Reception of Persian embassy ; Jahāngīr in centre of lower panel; anonymous. (Photo. by Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy.)

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All critics, presumably, would admit that Indo-Persian art attained its highest achievements during the reign of the magnificent Shahjahān (A.D. 1627-58), when the land enjoyed comparative peace, and a luxurious court offered liberal encouragement to all artists capable of ministering to its pleasure. The fierce scenes of bloodshed in which the earlier artists delighted were replaced by pageants of peaceful courtly splendour, the old aggressive colouring was toned down or dispensed with, and a general refinement of style and execution was cultivated. In the portraits of men and favourite animals a little shading executed by a few delicate strokes was dexterously introduced, sufficient to suggest solidity and roundness, and yet managed with such reserve that the Asiatic reliance on the power of line was not interfered with.

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The compositions of this period comprise a variety of subjects and are the work of many artists. The names of a few whose productions have attracted my special attention may be mentioned:—Chitarman, *alias* Kalyān Dās; Anūpchhatar; Rāi Anūp (possibly the same person), court painter to Prince Dārā Shukoh; Manohar; Muhammad Nādir of Samarkand; Mīr Hāshim; and Muhammad Fakīrullah Khān.

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FIG. 253. Sketch portrait of Hakīm-Masīh-uz-zamān; by Mīr Hāshim. (B. M. Add. 18801, No. 30.)

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One of the richest albums in the British Museum is the manuscript Add. 18801, inscribed with a note stating that the volume was dedicated as a pious donation in A. H. 1072 = A. D. 1661-2. In selecting from it certain pictures for reproduction, I am able to avail myself of the authority of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who examined the collection in July, 1777, and expressed his particular admiration for the following six works:—

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No. 20. Pencil sketch of an officer of Shahjahān, by Chitarman, who was also called Kalyān Dās;

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No. 21. Similar sketch of Azam Khān Koka, by Muhammad Nādir of Samarkand;

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No. 27. Similar sketch of Āsaf Khān, anonymous;

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No. 28. Large anonymous sketch of Shahjahān holding court, surrounded by nobles whose portraits are named. The price is marked as 200 rupees, equivalent at that time to £25 or more;

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No. 30. Sketch of head of Hakīm Masīh-uz-zamān, a noble who had lived in Akbar's time, by Mīr Hāshim, very small and very good; and

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No. 40. Three portraits. The principal one is a sketch of Shēr Muhammad Nawāl, by Muhammad Nādir of Samarkand. The minor ones are small coloured miniatures of Jahāngīr and Shahjahān by the same artist.

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No. 41, a delicate little head of Mirzā Nauzar, a noble of Shahjahān's court, by Mīr Hāshim, is worthy to rank with Sir Joshua's selections.

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The small sketch No. 30 is reproduced in Fig. 253, and the three portraits in No. 40 are shown together in Plate CXXIV.

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Plate CXXIV. Portraits of Sher Muhammad Nawāl, Jahāngīr, and Shahjahān by Muhammad Nādir of Samarkand. (B. M. Add. 18801, No. 40.)

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All critics, essentially, would admit that Indo-Persian art attained its highest achievements during the reign of the magnificent Shāhjahān (A.D. 1627-58), when the land enjoyed comparative peace, and a luxurious court offered liberal encouragement to all artists capable of ministering to its pleasure. The fierce scenes of bloodshed in which the earlier artists delighted were replaced by pageants of peaceful courtly splendour, the still aggressive colouring was toned down or dispensed with, and a general refinement of style and execution was cultivated. In the portraits of men and favourite animals a little shading executed by a few delicate strokes was dexterously introduced, sufficient to suggest solidity and roundness, and yet managed with such reserve that the Asiatic reliance on the power of line was not interfered with.

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The compositions of this period comprise a variety of subjects, and are the work of many artists. The names of a few whose productions have attracted my special attention may be mentioned—Chitarman, *alias* Kalyān Dās; Anūpchhatar; Raī Anūp (possibly the same person); court painter to Prince Dārā Shukoh; Muhammad; Muhammad Nādir of Samarkand; Hāshim; and Muhammad Fakīrullah Khān.

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FIG. 253. Sketch portrait of Hakīm-Masīh-uz-zamān; by Mīr Hāshim. (B. M. Add. 18801, No. 30.)

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A certain splendid album in the British Museum (Add. MS. 18801) offers, inscribed with a note by its former possessor, a most curious donation. In selecting from its contents pictures for reproduction, I am able to avail myself of the authority of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who examined the collection in July, 1777, and expressed his particular admiration for the following pieces:

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No. 10. Finished sketch of an officer of Shahjahān, by Chitarman, who was also called Kalyān Dās;

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No. 12. Fine outline sketch of Asad Khān Koka, by Muhammad Nādir of Samarkand;

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No. 22. Large outline sketch of Āsaf Khān, anonymous;

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No. 26. Very interesting sketch of Shahjahān holding court, surrounded by nobles whose names are entered. The price is marked as 200 rupees, equivalent at that time to £25;

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No. 30. Sketch of head of Hakīm Masīh-uz-zamān, a noble who had lived in Akbar's time, by Mīr Hāshim, 'very small and very good'; and

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No. 40. Three sketches. The principal one is a sketch of Shēr Muhammad Nawal, by Muhammad Nādir of Samarkand. The minor ones are small coloured miniatures of polished workmanship by the same artist.

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No. 41. A delicate sketch of Mirzā Nauzar, a noble of Shahjahān's court, by Mīr Hāshim, is another of Sir Joshua's selections.

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The small sketch No. 30 is reproduced in Fig. 253, and the three portraits in No. 40 are shown together on Plate CXXIV.

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Turning to animals, we find in the Johnson Collection (vol. iii, fol. 1) a lifelike portrait of Dilpasand, or 'Heart's Delight', a favourite charger of Dārā Shukoh, by an artist named Manohar (Plate CXXV). An equestrian portrait of the same prince mounted on another charger is also notable (ibid., vol. iv, fol. 9) and of unusually large size, about 11 inches by 9.

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The tiny cat sitting up, in vol. liii, Fig. 5, of the same collection, is excellent, and is shown in Plate CXXVI. This is not the only example of pictures of cats. One appears at the feet of the Emperor Farrukhsiyar in volume No. 5 of Exhibition Case B in the King's Library, British Museum, and a few others occur in other compositions. A Chinese artist was famous as a specialist in cats, and it is probable that his example was followed in India.

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Perfectly drawn elephants are numerous. Indian artists, whether sculptors or painters, rarely failed to produce good representations of the huge quadruped, the nature of which they understood thoroughly. Volume lxvii in the Johnson Collection is specially devoted to elephants, several of which are admirable. One of the best is that on folio 7, by Nādir-uz-zamān (Abūl Hasan).¹ Another fine picture is that on folio 15. The main subject is a magnificent elephant standing in a palace court-yard, with other elephants, a bullock, &c., as accessories. The drawing is *grisaille* in a brownish sepia tint, no other colour being used, except that the golden ornaments of the elephant are yellow.

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¹ Nādir-uz-zamān was the official title of Abūl Hasan, a favourite artist of Jahāngīr. He seems to have continued to work in the following reign.

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The many charming pictures treating of miscellaneous subjects, including illustrations of popular stories, offer a wide field for description and selection, far too large to be treated exhaustively.

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A favourite subject was the story of Bāz Bahādur, king of Mālwā, and his lady-love, Princess Rūpmatī, who are represented in several pictures as riding together by torchlight. A good example in the Calcutta Art Gallery has been reproduced in Plate LXIV of Mr. Havell's *Indian Sculpture and Painting*; another, in Mr. C. Hercules Read's rich collection, is of special value because of the label indicating the subject; and a third is on folio 22 of B.M. Add. 21928. Other romances frequently illustrated are the tales of Laila and Majnūn, Khusrū and Shīrīn, and Kāmrūp and Kāmtā.

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Mr. Havell has rightly drawn attention to the skill with which the Indian artists treated the contrast between the pitchy darkness of night and the flare of artificial light. Several pictures are extant which exhibit this contrast in scenes of hunting by night, flaming torches being used to dazzle and hypnotize the deer. Colonel Hanna's collection, now in Washington, includes two such scenes, Nos. 42 and 102, of which the latter excited the warm admiration of the late Sir Frederick Burton. A more modern specimen in the Calcutta Art Gallery is reproduced in Mr. Havell's Plate LXV.

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The same motive, which also attracted Rembrandt, inspires the pictures representing a lady standing on a balcony watching the effect of fireworks over the dark Plate CXXV. Dilpasand, charger of Dārā Shukoh ; by Manohar. (Johnson Collection, vol. iii, fol. 1.)

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PLATE CXXVII. Lady and sunlight effect, by Rāo Gobīnd Singh.

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Wait, if the page is completely blank, the standard transcription is empty or minimal. Let's verify if there is any printed text or page furniture on this page. Looking closely at the entire image: There is no text, no running head, no page number, no signature marks, no caption. It is a blank page (possibly the back of a plate, or an endpaper / blank flyleaf).

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Therefore, there is no text to transcribe. I will return nothing / an empty response.

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Plate CXXVIII. Marble building, &c., by Muhammad Fakīrullah Khān. (Johnson Collection, vol. xvii, fol. 3.)

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waters of the Jumna. Sometimes she is shown in the act of discharging a squib herself.¹ In folio 4 of vol. xv of the Johnson Collection, the lady, clad in bright scarlet and standing against a background of inky darkness, produces a very impressive effect. A picture by Muhammad Fakīrullah Khān (folio 7 of the same volume), depicting the nocturnal pursuit of a warrior, is equally successful in bringing out the opposition of light and darkness. Other compositions exhibiting people grouped round a camp-fire aim at like effects.

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¹ Dr. Coomaraswamy possesses a good picture of girls discharging fireworks, signed by Muhammad Afzal, with a Persian verse on the back, dated A.H. 1069 = A.D. 1658–9, commendatory of the painter. Another of his works is in volume xi of the Johnson Collection.

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A slightly different motive, the contrast between bright sunshine and shade, is treated with masterly skill in a picture, 5 inches by 2½ inches, painted by Rāo Gobind Singh, apparently in the seventeenth century. The subject is a lady seated on a balcony watching golden sunlight illuminating the water below (Plate CXXVII). Such chiaroscuro effects probably are the result of the study of European art.

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One of the best pictures extant, in my judgement, is that by Muhammad Fakīrullah Khān (Johnson Coll., vol. xvii, fol. 3), representing a domed building of white marble with a youth seated in the window, and a woman standing outside. The flesh tints and the texture of the marble are rendered with rare perfection. A mango-tree in fruit fills up the background (Plate CXXVIII).

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A picture by Nanhā Rāi (vol. xxi, fol. 3, of same collection) is somewhat similar, but not so good, and the young man is omitted. Mr. Havell has reproduced, in his Plate LX, a portrait of Sūrajmal by an artist named Nanhā, who worked in Jahāngīr's reign, in a style likened by the critic to that of Holbein. I suspect that Nanhā Rāi was a different person of later date.

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Many artists took great delight in depicting holy men and ascetics of all sorts, Musulman and Hindu, singly or in groups. Two of the most exquisite works dealing with this class of subject, and no doubt executed in the reign of Shahjahān, are the companion pictures, folios 11 *b* and 12, in Dārā Shukoh's album, representing an old fakīr in two positions, holding a book in the one case, and a rosary in the other. The outline of the figure is drawn with less than the usual sharpness, and shading with fine lines is employed sufficiently to give an impression of roundness. In the old man's beard the delicacy and accuracy with which individual hairs are drawn display a wonderful mastery over that most difficult instrument, the single-hair brush. The colouring is subdued, and the perspective fairly correct.

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Another drawing in the same volume, in similar style, and probably by the same artist, is that on folio 60. The subject is the reading by a young *mullah* (Muhammadan teacher) from a Koran resting on a stand. Two of his companions are listening attentively, while the third, in the foreground, is engaged in pouring water over the toes of his left foot held up in his hand. The drawing of the difficult position of this figure is extremely clever (Plate CXXIX).

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Most of the albums contain examples of gorgeous court scenes elaborated with infinite patience and minuteness of detail, harmoniously coloured, and often enriched Plate CXXX. The Emperor Aurangzēb reading; anonymous.

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with gold. It would be next to impossible to reproduce the most splendid of these pictures in colours with success, and I think it better not to make the attempt. The composition being the weak point in these works, photographs do them an injustice. Colonel Hanna possesses two of the richest specimens in existence, Nos. 1 and 2 in his volume marked *Persian Drawings*. No. 2 is the largest Indo-Persian picture known to me, excepting the early illustrations of the *Story of Amīr Hamzah* (*ante*, p. 468), the measurements being 23 inches by 17½ inches. The subject is a review of cavalry on the bank of the Jumna by Shahjahān mounted on an elephant. The portraits of the principal chiefs and officers in the crowd have their names attached.

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The manuscript B.M. Add. 20734, an official present given by the titular Emperor of Delhi in 1815, contains nine pictures in the most highly-finished style, of which two may be specified. One representing the infant Shahjahān (Prince Khurram) lying in his mother's lap, surrounded by admiring attendants, is wrought with colouring so rich and decorative details so elaborate that an attempt to copy it would certainly fail. Another picture, extending across two pages (fol. 689, 690), and depicting Shahjahān seated on the peacock throne in all his glory, while Āsaf Khān offers a present of costly pearls, gives a vivid notion of the extravagant magnificence of the Mughal court in its prime.

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Volumes ix, x, xi of the Johnson Collection may be noticed as being specially devoted to the ladies, some of whom are represented half nude in the bath or at their toilet. The pictures in volume xi are particularly good, the most noticeable being a charming portrait of a lady wearing a high conical head-dress, and admirably shaded. From an inferior replica (B.M. Add. 11747, fol. 52) we learn that the lady's name or title was Malkah Zamāniya.

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Passing on to the reigns of Aurangzēb (1658–1707) and his decadent successors during the eighteenth century, we find the artists still numerous and specimens of their work abundant. Although Aurangzēb was too zealous a puritan to care for art himself, the fashion set by his predecessors had not died out, and princes and nobles still kept court painters. During this period Hindu painters frequently quitted the traditional grooves of Indo-Persian art, and applied a modification of it to the illustration of their own mythology. Such Hinduized art is discussed more conveniently here than in Chapter IX, dealing with the later schools of Hindu painting.

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Portraiture continued to be practised with great success, although the delicacy of execution rarely attains the perfection of the first half of the seventeenth century. The example first cited is one which well deserves the honour of precedence, a dainty little vignette likeness of Aurangzēb himself in his old age reading a book (Pl. CXXX).

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An early portrait (with a seal dated A.H. 1072 = A.D. 1661–2) of the celebrated Nawāb Shāyista Khān, afterwards the opponent of Job Charnock in Bengal, is the work of Ustād Gyān Chand, apparently a Sikh artist, and is, perhaps, as good as any of Shahjahān's time. The Nawāb is represented seated. The artist has relied on his mastery over line rather than on colour. The tints are subdued, the cushion being pink. The price of this admirable drawing is noted as 170 rupees, or about £20. (Plate CXXXI).

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[Figure: PLATE CXXXI. Nawāb Shāyista Khān, by Ustād Gyān Chand.

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Volumes ix, x, xi of the Johnson Collection may be noticed as being specially devoted to the ladies of the court, who are represented as in the bath or at their toilet. The pictures in volume xi are particularly good, the most noticeable being a charming portrait of a lady wearing a high conical head-dress, and admirably shaded. From an inferior replica (B.M. Add. 11747, fol. 52) we learn that the lady's name or title was Malkah Zamāniya.

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Another good, although rather conventional, portrait of later date is that of Muhsin Khān by Mīr Muhammad, who is of special interest as being apparently the artist of the same name who supplied Manucci, before 1712, with copies of the series of imperial portraits, several of which have been reproduced successfully by Mr. Irvine from the Paris album brought home by the traveller (*Plate* CXXXII).

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A few other portraits of exceptional merit by various artists of uncertain date may be noted:— Ikhlās Khān, a negro officer, by Chānd Muhammad (Johnson Coll., vol. xxiii, fol. 2); Nawāb Sāhib Qibla Azīz Khān Bahādur, aet. 31, by Chhaj Mal (ibid., vol. xxiii, 4); and Gujrātin, a lady, by Muhammad Fazl (ibid., vol. xx, fol. 2). The list might be largely extended.

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The large green album in the Department of Design, &c., in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington (D. 1163–1210 of 1903), contains creditable examples of eighteenth-century work. The more noticeable pictures are:—D. 1170, a female musician, with another figure, in clear, bright atmosphere; D. 1185, a fine elephant with its *mahout*, or driver, in Chinese ink; D. 1204, a large picture 12 inches by 8, of a huge elephant, with a keeper, holding a spear, standing in front; no colour except the gold rings on the tusks; and D. 1205, an aged emperor (? Shāh Ālam) seated on a balcony overlooking a lake, signed Bahādur Singh.

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The great French collection in the Bibliothèque Nationale includes an illustrated copy of the 'Romance of Kāmrūp' (Suppl. Pers. No. 929) adorned with sixty Indian miniatures described as being finely executed and well preserved. Yet the date is a.h. 1250 = a.d. 1834–5. Possibly the pictures may be copies of older originals. A manuscript in one of the exhibition cases at the British Museum has a good portrait of Ranjīt Singh, who died in 1839.