The courtly book. Iran and India

Unidentified Iranian painters · 1330s

Mourners accompany the bier of Isfandiyar, a hero of the Shahnama. The page belonged to the Great Mongol Shahnama, later dispersed. Strong outlines and thin washes recall Chinese brush painting, showing exchanges of pictorial methods across the territories connected by Mongol rule.

Unidentified Iranian painters · ca. 1400

Jonah receives divine protection after being released from the creature that swallowed him. A vine shelters him and an angel brings clothing. Despite its traditional manuscript-related title, the museum states that this large painting never belonged to a book. It may have supported oral storytelling.

Attributed to Painting attributed to Sultan Muhammad · ca. 1525

Hushang discovered fire by striking a rock and celebrated the discovery with a feast. This illustration belongs to Shah Tahmasp's lavish Shahnama. Rocks extend into the margins, and small lively incidents surround the gathering. Its arrangement and figures support the attribution to Sultan Muhammad.

Attributed to Painting attributed to Sultan Muhammad · ca. 1525

After their defeat, the demons obtain mercy by teaching Tahmuras writing. The epic thus links a royal victory with the acquisition of knowledge. This leaf from Shah Tahmasp's Shahnama gives the demons varied faces and mottled bodies, features supporting its attribution to Sultan Muhammad.

Attributed to Painting attributed to Qasim ibn 'Ali · ca. 1530

Isfandiyar hides in a cart fitted with spears to defeat a dragon during his quest to free his sisters. The coiling creature and decorative details connect the miniature with Turkmen painting traditions adapted for commissions at the Safavid court. The work is attributed to Qasim ibn Ali.

Unidentified Iranian painters · Safavid dynasty (1501–1722), c.1535

In Nizami’s poem, a ruler hears owls among ruins and asks his adviser to interpret them. The birds discuss a dowry of devastated villages, promising more if current government continues. The tale draws the king’s attention to his subjects’ suffering. Ruins make the ethical lesson visible within a lavish manuscript page.

Unidentified Iranian painters · Safavid dynasty (1501–1722), dated 1580/90

This Shahnameh page illustrates Zal and Rudaba’s courtship. Attendants, plants and architecture appear beneath the lovers’ balcony. Calligraphy belongs to the same carefully organised design. Gold and lapis-lazuli blue connect Ferdowsi’s literary narrative with the precious materials of a commissioned manuscript.

Attributed to Painting attributed to Bihzad · ca. 1480

Dancing Sufis turn among still spectators in a garden. Movement and contemplation appear together as religious practices. The miniature belongs to a manuscript of Hafiz's poetry and the courtly painting tradition of Herat. Its attribution to Bihzad remains qualified.

Painting by Habiballah of Sava · ca. 1600

The birds gather for the spiritual journey in Attar's poem, led by the hoopoe. This manuscript was made in several stages. Habiballah's signature and the hunter's firearm distinguish this later addition from its earlier Timurid illustrations. The book brings together painting from different courts and generations.

Painting by Riza-yi 'Abbasi · dated 1039 AH/1630 CE

Riza Abbasi painted this embracing couple late in his career at the Safavid court. The interwoven contours recall the movement of a calligraphic pen. The museum connects the sensual subject with the more relaxed courtly attitudes of Shah Safi's reign. The small sheet invites close viewing.

Ali Quli Jabbadar · Safavid dynasty (1501–1722), late 17th century

The signature identifies Shah Abbas II, although the painting was made after his death. Courtiers watch horses from a platform while handlers below struggle to restore order. One man keeps a list. Individual people and incidental details reflect developments in later seventeenth-century Persian court painting.

Unidentified painter of Akbar's workshop · c. 1560s–70s

Alamshah stops a torrent intended to flood Hamza's camp. The page belongs to the Hamzanama, the first enormous undertaking of Akbar's new workshop. Fourteen volumes originally contained about fourteen hundred illustrations; only a small fraction survives. The commission helped establish Mughal painting as a collaborative court practice.

Designed by Basawan, painted by Shankar · Mughal dynasty (1526-1857), c. 1590-1595

The scene depicts the first days of thirteen-year-old Akbar’s reign, painted much later for his commissioned history. Basawan designed the composition and painted important faces; Shankar completed the rest. Signatures preserve rare evidence of divided labour within the large Mughal workshop.

Farukh Chela, Govardhan or Dhanraj; attribution debated · c. 1602–3; borders added c. 1700s

This illustration from a late biography of Akbar returns to an event in 1564. The emperor directs men as trained elephants pursue wild ones. Distant towns and hills draw on European prints in the court collection. The museum proposes several possible painters, so the attribution remains open.

Attributed to Miskin · 1597–98

A king has accidentally killed a shepherd and offers the dead man's mother either revenge or compensation. This page illustrates Amir Khusrau's Khamsa. Mughal figures, Persian rock forms, and European-inspired marginal motifs coexist in a story about justice made in an imperial workshop.

Attributed to Miskin · 1597–98

Dilaram's music enchants the deer as Bahram Gur listens. The leaf comes from Akbar's personal copy of Amir Khusrau's Khamsa. The poet adapted an earlier narrative by Nizami, and the court painter gave the episode a visual form. Several generations of literary and artistic work meet in this book.

Basawan · 1597–98

A Muslim pilgrim watches a Brahman repeatedly prostrate himself, then continues his own journey barefoot. Basawan painted the episode for Akbar's Khamsa. In Amir Khusrau's story, a lesson in devotion comes from someone of another faith. An Indian landscape brings the encounter close to the setting in which the book was made.

Govardhan · verso: ca. 1630; recto: ca. 1530–50

This portrait of Akbar was made after his death for Shah Jahan's album. A peaceful lion and calf express an ideal of just rule reconciling hostile forces. Govardhan adds European-derived cherubs. The image of an ancestor helps the new emperor present his own authority as part of a dynasty.

Chitarman · recto: dated 1627–28; verso: ca. 1530–50

Chitarman painted this image soon after Shah Jahan's accession. The emperor holds a jeweled pendant bearing his own portrait. A halo, European-derived angels, textiles, and architecture proclaim imperial authority while displaying the skills of the workshops supplying the court.

Hashim · c. 1630

The small portrait was probably made soon after Shah Jahan became emperor in 1628. His full beard belonged to the public presentation of a more orthodox ruler. Hashim's signature appears behind the sitter's neck. The miniature preserves a recognizable face, imperial rank, and the painter's name.

Attributed to Bishandas · c. 1627

Nur Jahan holds a formal portrait of her husband. She managed many affairs of state and hoped to retain influence after his death. Her own face is idealized and younger than her actual age. The painting draws on a dynastic device in which an earlier ruler's image supports a claim to authority.

Attributed to Painting by Govardhan · c. 1630

A Mughal prince visits a Sufi teacher. The finished painting was later removed from an earlier setting and inserted into Shah Jahan's new album. Its selection emphasized the religious side of court life. Additional ascetics in the margins connect the central encounter with the album page's decoration.

Kamal Muhammad and Chand Muhammad · ca. 1680

Nine Adil Shahi sultans appear together in an assembly made for the young Sikandar. The painting dates shortly before Bijapur fell in 1686. An exchange of a key invokes dynastic legitimacy and links with Safavid Iran. A later inscription misidentifies the Iranian ruler and cannot be accepted at face value.

Attributed to Stipple Master · c. 1705–1710

A reverse inscription names the monkey Husaini and associates it with Daud Khan. Individual monkey portraits were unusual in Indian painting. The work is attributed to the anonymous Stipple Master, who worked with Maharana Amar Singh II of Mewar. An unexpected sitter received the scale and attention of a court portrait.

Attributed to Bhawani Das or a follower · ca. 1777–82

This study is connected with Indian painters working for the Impey family in Calcutta. Their natural-history commissions joined local painting skills with European scientific interests. The museum allows that a follower of Bhawani Das may have painted this particularly naturalistic fruit bat, so the authorship remains qualified.

Unidentified Indian painters · c. 1820

Empress Nur Jahan built the mausoleum for her father, who had risen to chief minister. A later painter carefully recorded marble carving and inlay. Such architectural images developed around the British East India Company’s impulse to catalogue monuments. Before photography, Indian and European artists undertook this work through drawings.