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Not currently on display at the V&A

Akbar

Painting
ca. 1590-95 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is the left half of a double-page composition in the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicting an incident that took place when the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) was hunting with companions near Narwar, central India, in 1561. The other side (Museum no. IS.2:17-1896) shows him slaying a tiger who suddenly sprang out at them. Here, Akbar’s companions kill the cubs she was trying to protect. The image, painted by the Mughal court artists Basawan and Sarwan, is overlaid by a panel of Persian text.

The Akbarnama was commissioned by Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign. It was written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abu’l Fazl, between 1590 and 1596, and the V&A’s partial copy of the manuscript is thought to have been illustrated between about 1592 and 1595. This is thought to be the earliest illustrated version of the text, and drew upon the expertise of some of the best royal artists of the time. Many of these are listed by Abu’l Fazl in the third volume of the text, the A’in-i Akbari, and some of these names appear in the V&A illustrations, written in red ink beneath the pictures, showing that this was a royal copy made for Akbar himself. After his death, the manuscript remained in the library of his son Jahangir, from whom it was inherited by Shah Jahan.

The V&A purchased the manuscript in 1896 from Frances Clarke, the widow of Major General John Clarke, who bought it in India while serving as Commissioner of Oudh between 1858 and 1862.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleAkbar (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted in opaque watercolour and gold on paper
Brief description
Painting, Akbarnama, Akbar tiger-hunting near Narwar, outline and portraits by Basawan, painting Tara the Elder, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Mughal, ca. 1590-95
Physical description
Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, this is the left half of a double composition depicting an incident when Akbar was hunting and was attacked by a female tiger (IS.2:17-1896). Here, his companions defend themselves from her cubs. The image is overlaid by a panel of Persian text (four lines) extending from the bottom right of the page.
Dimensions
  • Height: 33cm
  • Width: 20cm
Content description
An incident when Akbar was hunting and was attacked by a female tiger (IS.2:17-1896). Here, his companions defend themselves from her cubs.
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
(Contemporary librarian's attribution in Persian written beneath the image at the bottom of the page in red ink.)
Translation
'Composition by Basawan/Work [=painting] by Sarwan.'
Transliteration
'Tarh Basawan/Amal Sarwan'
Credit line
Purchased from Mrs. Clarke, The Dingle, Sydenham Hill, S. E
Object history
The Akbarnama was commissioned by the emperor Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign and was written in Persian by Abu'l Fazl between 1590 and 1596. It is thought to have been illustrated between about 1590 and 1595 by at least 49 different artists from Akbar's studio. After Akbar's death in 1605, the manuscript remained in the library of his son, Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and later that of Shah Jahan (r.1628-1658). The Museum purchased it in 1896 from Mrs Frances Clarke, the widow of Major-General John Clarke, who bought it in India while serving as Commissioner of Oudh between 1858 and 1862.

Historical significance: It is thought to be the first illustrated copy of the Akbarnama. It drew upon the expertise of some of the best royal painters of the time, many of whom receive special mention by Abu'l Fazl in the A'in-i-Akbari ("Institutes of Akbar"). The Persian inscriptions in red ink on the bottom of the paintings name the artists.
Production
Composition by Basawan; painted by Sarwan.
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Association
Literary referenceAkbarnama
Summary
This is the left half of a double-page composition in the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicting an incident that took place when the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) was hunting with companions near Narwar, central India, in 1561. The other side (Museum no. IS.2:17-1896) shows him slaying a tiger who suddenly sprang out at them. Here, Akbar’s companions kill the cubs she was trying to protect. The image, painted by the Mughal court artists Basawan and Sarwan, is overlaid by a panel of Persian text.

The Akbarnama was commissioned by Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign. It was written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abu’l Fazl, between 1590 and 1596, and the V&A’s partial copy of the manuscript is thought to have been illustrated between about 1592 and 1595. This is thought to be the earliest illustrated version of the text, and drew upon the expertise of some of the best royal artists of the time. Many of these are listed by Abu’l Fazl in the third volume of the text, the A’in-i Akbari, and some of these names appear in the V&A illustrations, written in red ink beneath the pictures, showing that this was a royal copy made for Akbar himself. After his death, the manuscript remained in the library of his son Jahangir, from whom it was inherited by Shah Jahan.

The V&A purchased the manuscript in 1896 from Frances Clarke, the widow of Major General John Clarke, who bought it in India while serving as Commissioner of Oudh between 1858 and 1862.
Associated object
Bibliographic references
  • W. Staude, ‘Contribution a l’etude de Basawan’, Extrait de la Revue des Arts asiatiques, Paris: Les editions d’art et d’histoire, 1934, fig. 6. Stronge, Susan. Painting for the Mughal Emperor: The Art of the Book 1560-1660. V&A Publications 2002, p. 41 (left), p. 62.
  • In the image of man : the Indian perception of the universe through 2000 years of painting and sculpture : [exhibition / organized by Catherine Lampert assisted by Rosalie Cass]. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson :in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1982 Number: 0297780719, 0297781243 (pbk.) p. 153, cat. no. 204
Other number
98 - Inscription/original number
Collection
Accession number
IS.2:18-1896

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Record createdOctober 12, 1998
Record URL
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