South Asian painting

The Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556 to 1605) ran a manuscript workshop where Indian artists worked under Persian masters from Iran. Its Tales of a Parrot, made about 1560, holds the earliest known paintings by Basavana, who shaped the Mughal style. Later, painters in Rajasthan, at Bundi and Mewar, and in Kolkata made pictures of their own. Look closely at figures, gestures and the movement between architecture and landscape. Indian painting includes distinct courtly and regional traditions, with subjects ranging from portraits and royal events to poetry and devotion. Mughal workshops brought artists of different backgrounds together and adapted Persian, Indian and European models; Rajput courts developed their own varied pictorial languages. A manuscript page or album leaf is one part of this larger history, not a template for every Indian painting. Connected places: Mughal India · Rajasthan · Kolkata.

• Leaf from the Perfection of Wisdom SutraUnrecorded South Asian makers, Pala period, c. 1160-1180
• Queen Trishala Gives Birth to MahaviraUnrecorded South Asian makers, c. 1475-1500
• Akbar Arrests Shah Abu’l-MaaliBasawan and Shankar, Mughal dynasty (1526-1857), c. 1590-1595
• Royal Women Feeding FishUnrecorded South Asian makers, c. 1740
• Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)Unrecorded South Asian makers, Company School, c. 1780-1820
• Maharana Bhim Singh in ProcessionAttributed to Ghasi, c. 1820
• The monkey slain, his blood to be used as medicine for the ailing prince he has bitten, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth NightBasavana, c. 1560
• The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth NightBasavana, c. 1560
• A mendicant bowing before a holy man, from the Prince Salim AlbumBasavana, c. 1585; inner border added in Allahabad c. 1602; outer border added probably 1900s
• Jain Ascetic Walking Along a RiverbankBasavana, c. 1600
• The parrot mother cautions her young on the danger of playing with foxes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth NightDasavanta, c. 1560
• The wounded monkey bites the hand of the prince, his chessmate, in the presence of guests, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth NightDasavanta, c. 1560
• The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Sixth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)Dasavanta, c. 1560
• A blindfolded suitor is brought before a princess (recto)Fayzullah, 1755
• Women bathing before an architectural panoramaFayzullah, c. 1765
• The handmaiden again pleads for the death of the prince, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth NightLalu, c. 1560
• The parrot brings a fruit from the Tree of Life to the king of Syria, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth NightLalu, c. 1560
• The vizier’s son receives the magic wooden parrot from the wife of the merchant, who is drunk, and has a replica made by a carpenter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth NightLalu, c. 1560
• The wife of the son of the vizier brings the magic wooden parrot to her lover, the monk, who exchanges it for the replica, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth NightLalu, c. 1560
• The deceitful wife returns to her terrace after caressing her lover, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth NightShravana, c. 1560
• The deceitful wife ejects the procuress after blackening her face, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth NightShravana, c. 1560
• Timur distributes gifts from his grandson, the Prince of Multan, from a Zafar-nama (Book of Victories)Shravana, 1598–1600
• The young prince recounts his experiences to his father, the king, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth NightSuraju, c. 1560
• The young prince is crowned and the wicked handmaiden is executed, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth NightSuraju, c. 1560
• The king plucks fruit from the Tree of Life with his own hands and feeds it to a lady, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth NightSuraju, c. 1560