Several Illustrations from the Dastan-i Amir Hamza in American Collections

Several Illustrations from the Dastan-i Amir Hamza in American CollectionsAuthor(s): Maurice S. DimandSource: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 11, No. 1/2 (1948), pp. 4-13Published by: Artibus Asiae PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3248118 .

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MAURICE S. DIMAND:

SEVERAL ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE DASTAN-I AMIR HAMZA

IN AMERICAN COLLECTIONS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUGHAL PAINTING IN INDIA IS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED

with the history of the Mughal dynasty. Emperor Babur, the founder of the dynasty (1526-

30), was a descendent of Timur. Like his Persian ancestors, Babur had great interest in the

art of painting and had a collection of illuminated manuscripts, many of which must have

been illustrated by famous Persian artists of the Herat School, chiefly Bihzad and his pupils. In his memoirs Babur refers to this master and Shah Muzaffar. Bihzad's style dominated

Mughal painting of that period, known to us from a miniature representing a sea fight, in

an album of Emperor Jahangir in the State Library in Berlin.1

In 1540 Babur's successor, Humayun, forced by an Afghan revolt to flee the country, spent some time in Persia as a guest of Shah Tahmasp. At the Persian court Humayun became

acquainted with the work of some of the great Persian painters. There he met two young Persian artists, Mir Sayyid Al and Abdus Samad, and invited them to join his court. Ac-

cording to Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari, Abdus Samed followed the Emperor in 956 (A.D. 1549)

to Kabul. Mir Sayyid Ali, upon whom Humayun bestowed the title of Nadir al-mulk (The Marvel of the Realm), was engaged to illustrate the Persian Romance of Amir Hamza, nar-

rating the adventures of the hero Hamza, an uncle of Muhammad. Judging from two im-

portant Mughal sources, the Ain-i-Akbari and the Maathir al-Umara, the manuscript, al-

though begun under Humayun, was actually completed under Emperor Akbar. According to Ain-i-Akbari:2 "The Story of Hamza was represented in twelve volumes, and clever

painters made the most astonishing illustrations for no less than one thousand and four

hundred passages of the story." Even more important is the second source. According to

the Maathir al-Umara:3 "Akbar... was very fond of the story of Amir Hamza which contained

1 Ernst Kuhnel and Hermann Goetz, Indian Book Painting, London, 1926, P1. 31. 2 Abul Fazl 'Allami, The Ain-i-Akbari (translated by H. Blochman), vol. I, p. 08.

3 Shah Navaz Khan, Ma'athir al Umara, p. 454.

5



I tr

i IA

PI. I Talut showing 'Amr the prison in which Amir was confined Collection of S. Minkenhof, New York City

(M. S. Dimand: Several Illustrations from the Dastan-i Amir Hamza)

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..... C .. 3 60 tales. So much so that in

the female apartments he used

to recite them like a storyteller. He had the wonderful incidents

of that story illustrated from

,ig,~g~ iL~~ p?~4~ efbeginning to end of the book

to t es and set up in twelve volumes.

A Msem of Art P i of Each volume contained one

hundred folios, and each folio

was a cubit long. Each folio

contained two pictures and at

the front of each picture there

was a description delightfully written by Kkwaja 'Ata Ullah

the_ history of_ yohhavtea vr Munshi of Kazwin. Fifty paint-

ers of Bihzadlike pencil were

engaged, at first under the

superintendence of Nadiru'l-

mulk Humayunshahi Sayyid A'li Judai of Tabriz and after-

wards under the superintend- Fig. i Kusam-al-Abbas comes

to the battlefield and crushes Tahmasp with his mace

Pennsylvannia Museum of Art, Philadelphia of Shiraz. No one has seen an-

other such gem nor was there anything equal to it in the establishment of any king. At

present the book is in the Imperial Library." Also, from a stylistic point of view the exist-

ing or known illustrations should be assigned to the school of Akbar.

The first part of the Romance deals with the story of the Persian King Anushirwan and

the history of Hamza's youth, his adventures and various expeditions against the King of

Ceylon, the Emperor of Rum (Byzance), Spain and North Africa, to Egypt and Abyssinia.4

4 H. Gliick, Die indischen Miniaturen des Hamzae-Romanes, Vienna, I925.

6



The second part narrates the

heroic deeds and campaigns

.it B ish M e_ oithCh r C coagainst the unbelievers, first

'-eu ... L g oe in |h against the Franks, then against

ji^;t !aAt % 1the Iranian Fire and Sun Wor-

iCollcton in Prshippers. In the last section

|S~le~ff~ctions. T<appear the Giant Zumurud Shah

1 ~ ~~ ~~5_ op. c aSand an army of sourcerers. The Romance ends with the battle

of Uhud, in which Hamza is

killed. The volumes were large

|nE~ama |_ Ere M .l:~ Mncp ( din size, the pages measuring 2

ins. 28 '1 ins. and the illustrat-

ions painted on cotton cloth.

From the greatnumber of leaves, not many survived. The largest number, sixty-one, are in the Austrian Museum for Art and

Industry in Vienna,5 and

Fig. 2 Mesbah the grocer, brings the spy Parran to his house twenty-five in the Indian Mus- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City eum, South Kensington.6 Four

are in the British Museum,7 two in the Chester Beatty Collection in London,8 one in the

Kunstgewerbe Museum of Leipzig,9 one in the Baroda Museum in India and one in the Pozzi

Collection in Paris.l0 In America there are quite a number in museums and private collections. The Metropolitan Museum possesses five,l four are in the Brooklyn Museum

5 Gliick, op. cit. 6 C. Stanley Clarke, Indian Drawings, London, 1921. 7 Ivan Stchoukine, La

peinture indienne a 1ipoque des Grands Moghols, Paris, I929, P1. VI. 8 Sir Thomas Arnold and

J. V. S. Wilkinson, A Catalogue of the Indian Miniatures (The Library of A. Chester Beatty), London, I 936,

vol. II. P1. I and 2. 9 Gliick, op. cit., Fig. Io. 10 H. Goetz, An Illustration from the Hamza-

nama, the Earliest Mughal Manuscript (Baroda State Museum Bulletin, vol. 2, P1. I).

" Gliick, op. cit., Fig. 29 and 38.

7



(originally nine),12 two in the

Boston Museum,l1 one in the j

Chicago Art Institute,l4 and ; . l' one in the Philadelphia Mus- . . :

lection of Mr. John Frederic l_

Lewis of Philadelphia,l6 and : ;

Minkenhof in New York. Most

of these paintings are known, but a few, particularly those in

American collections, are still

unpublished. Five of these are

illustrated here(P1. i, Figs. 1-4). a

Several of the paintings ino , thi i- America definitely belong to

the Vienna manuscript. The

paintng in P1. i illustrates anc _ - t-- ,.

episode in the story of the im-a 1

prisonment and liberation of Fig. 3 'Amr walks around Fulad Castle and sees the filling stranger

Amir Hamza by 'Amr, his in- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

separable friend. The story relating the various episodes of the liberation is as follows:

Next day 'Amr said to NuCman: "I would like to make the acquaintance of Talut, the jailer!

Perhaps we should take a gift with us." And so they went next day to the prison. On the

way they met Yazak and asked him what he was doing. He said: "I just came from the tent

of Arghus. Lurank-i Zangi told Zumurud Shah that Hamza is a prisoner and his heroes are 12 Steward Culin, Illustrations of the Romance of Amir Hamza, (The Brooklyn Quarterly, vol. XI, p. I39-I43); H. Comstock, The Romance of Amir Hamza (International Studio, February g925). 13 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Catalogue of the Indian Collections zn the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,

Cambridge, I930, PI. I, II. 14 Gliick, op. cit., Fig. 47. '5 H. Comstock, op. cit., p. 355, 356. 16 See Gluistocop. cit., pp. 5o-6i.

8



missing, so that in a short time they would be able to disperse the army." Yazak accompanied them to the prison. When they saw the structure of the prison they were all aston-

ished... In the meantime a prison guard of Talut arrived and said that Talut wished to see

them. Nu'man was frightened, but Amr went courageously and all the others followed him.

As they came to Talut, he frowned and shouted at 'Amr: "What are you looking for in

this prison?" 'Amr replied: "We are world adventurers, and when we come to a city, we

want to see the sights. Abroad they described this prison to us." He asked them: "What

did you hear about it?", and the other replied: "I have heard that no one has slept in this

prison for the last twelve years. That pleased Talut and he said: "Oh Khawja Nu'man, do

you know these gentlemen?" Nu'man replied: "Oh yes, I have been with them on many travels." "How long has he been in town?" "For three days." "And what is his name?"

"Bahlul" "Then come in and look around!" "Bahlul wanted to bring you a gift, but I told

him: The hero does not accept gifts from anyone!" Whereupon Talut said laughingly: "Why should not I take a gift from anyone?" In short, they remained seated for some time and

took leave, and Talut said: "Come and visit me now and then!" Whereupon they replied: "A nod from the beloved and we shall run on our heads." When they came home, they

prepared a gift for Talut, went the next day again to see him and put it down before him.

After sitting for a while, they wanted to break up, but Talut thought that the meal was on

the way. So they stayed for dinner. Talut said to his son: "Bring the prisoners their meal!"

and took out the key from his purse and opened the door, and a peculiar shriek sounded.

Talut asked: "Wouldn't you like to inspect the interior of the prison?" "I saw the outside, that is enough for me." "But the inside is even more worth seeing!" "That is a great favor

on your part!" Talut got up, took Amr's hand and led him inside the prison. There 'Amr

saw the stone and how they lowered a basket of food into the dungeon. He inspected the

whole dome-shaped building and went out again. In the painting (P1. i) we see 'Amr disguised as a bearded man and accompanied by his

friends watching Talut who is opening the lock of the fortress prison. This painting, which

bears the Persian number 13, precedes the painting in Vienna (Persian number 14) illustrat-

ing the actual liberation of Amir Hamza and Khusrau17 after 'Amr dug an underground 17 Glick, op. cit., P1. 15.

9



passage to the dungeon. In this painting we see the hole in the wall of the fortress, and 'Amr

freeing the chained Amir. Next to Amir sits the chained Khusrau, who languished twelve

years in the prison.

Fig. i illustrates an episode in the story of Tahmasp-i-Ankawil, the giant of the infidels, wo defeated numerous heroes of Amir Hamza.18 Many Muhammadan warriors were taken

prisoner. In twenty days Tahmasp killed 600 of the best-known heroes. "Finally Kusam-

al-Abbas appeared from the direction of Mecca and the spies ran toward him and told him

about the sad condition of the army. He asked who was on the battle field and they de-

scribed to him the cruelties of Tahmasp. He moved forward and placed himself in front

of Tahmasp. He parried the sword of Tahmasp with his steel mace and as Tahmasp saw

this rider, his whole body quivered. Kusam-al-Abbas let his mace go towards Tahmasp's head and although Tahmasp held his shield, he could not withstand the power of the blow.

The mace slid off the shield and smashed the hipbone of Tahmasp. The Muhammadan army

rejoiced and beat drums of gladness." The illustration bears the Persian number 36 and ac-

cording to the text, follows the one in Vienna19 bearing the number 35.

A painting in the Metropolitan Museum (Fig. 4) illustrates an episode in the story of Prince

Ibrahim, the son of Amir Hamza, and Khur-Mah, the daughter of Malik Kimar.20 Ibrahim

meets Khur-Mah and falls in love with her. The lovers are surprised by Kimar and Ibrahim

is taken prisoner. Later he is rescued by his friends. Khur-Mah disappears. "Ibrahim sent

for the spies Zanbur, Parran and Lulu and said to them: "The fate of Khur-Mah concerns

me greatly." They said- "Mahus and Mihlal are particularly bad scoundrels. If we don't stay

with the army they will carry out a surprise. But we have sent our men and expect news."

Thereupon Ibrahim replied: "Somebody should go to Shir-Banu and ask her, perhaps she

has the news." They asked her, but she said: "If someone accompanies me, I shall go to

the town (Tuwarak) and bring news about Khur-Mah." Zanbur offered to accompany her

and Ibrahim gave his permission. He came to Shir-Banu and informed her that he was ready

to accompany her. She sent for Mahiyya (who was going instead of her) and said: "They

should bring the donkeys, upon one they should load the fruits, upon the other the belong-

ings of Mahiyya." Thereupon Mahiyya put on her veil, mounted the donkey and departed 18 See Gliick, op. cit., pp. 64-68. 19 Gliick, op. cit., P1. 25. 20 See Gliick, op. cit., pp. 75-83.

I0



with Zanbur. So they went

to Tuwarak. Zanbur asked:

: m ̂ r h~ L' Hamz3+"Where shall we go now?"

i:!|| lbSt>*, 5 FigB She replied: "Take me through

the streets." As they rode

s a _ pI e d b around, a man suddenly ap-

peared who drove a donkey,

upon which sat a woman who

groaned and lamented. Mahiyya s of said to Zanbur: "Ask her what

,o9.~~~~~ j~t~ i ails her and where she wants to

go." To his question she replied: "I am going to the druggist,

th in amaster Khalun." And Mahiyya joined her. - The illustration

troduc many si fbears the Persian number 69,

1. See o fand follows, according to the

FIs 8 text, the one in Vienna21 bear-

ing number 68.

The illustrations of the Amir Fig. 4 The spy Zanbur brings Mahiyyah to the city Hamza show all the charaqer-

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City istic features of the early Akbar

school, and were probably executed between I556 and 1575. The Persian style and convent-

ions, derived from the Herat and Bukhara schools, are quite apparent in the composition,

architecture, ornament and color scheme. On the other hand, the figures, landscape and

some of the buildings are Indian. Certain paintings show stronger Persian influence than

others. Although the influence of the two Persian masters of the atelier was considerable, the Hindu artists from Kashmir, Gujarat and the Punjab, who were favored by Akbar, in-

troduced many stylistic features of their own, particularly in landscapes (see Fig. 3). A number 21 See Gluiick, op. cit., P1. 36.

II



of the illustrations, like the one in figure 4 representing a street scene, and several

others,22 are of special importance as they give an interesting insight into the daily life of

India in the time of Emperor Akbar.

The illustrations of the Amir Hamza show not only differences in artistic quality, but also

different hands. It was quite common under Akbar for several artists to collaborate in the

painting of a single miniature. Although many works of Akbar's painters are known to us,

it is problematical whether any of the Amir Hamza illustrations can be attributed to in-

dividual artists. With the possible exception of Basawan, a pupil of Abdus Samad, few of

the Mughal painters show an individual style.23 We know that Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus

Samad were the chief painters at Akbar's court. Several authors attributed certain Amir

Hamza paintings to these two artists. Brown and Coomaraswamy suggested that two of

the illustrations24 might be the work of Mir Sayyid Ali. Several Safavid paintings are at-

tributed or bear signatures of Mir Sayyid Ali, who seems to have been a fine painter of

genre scenes.25 Stchoukine attributes to him a Mughal portrait of Mir Musavir in the

Louvre.26 We are somewhat better acquainted with the early Mughal work of Abdus

Samad. Five of his paintings in the Jahangir album of the Gulistan Museum, Teheran,

belong to the school of Humayun.27 Their style is entirely Persian, well known to us

from manuscripts of the Shah Tahmasp period. In one of them, showing the present-

ation of a miniature by Akbar to his father, Humayun, costumes and headgear are pe-

culiar to Humayun's era. Abdus Samad's later style, that is of the Akbar school, is known

to us from two works: a drawing in the Bodleian Library representing the arrest of

22 Hermann Goetz, Bilderatlas zur Kulturgeschichte Indiens in der Grossmoghul-Zeit, Berlin, 1930, P1. 47,

A Physician Treating the Infidels. Brooklyn Museum. 23 W. Staude, Contribution a l'etude de Basawan (Revue des Arts Asiatiques, vol. VIII, p. I-i8). M. S.

Dimand, A Handbook of Muhammadan Art, New York, 1947, Fig. 33. 24 Percy Brown, Indian Painting under the Mughals, Oxford, 1924, P1. VII; Ananda Coomaraswamy, op.

cit., P1. I.

25 Brown, op. cit., P1. VI; A. Sakisian, La miniature persane du XII au XVII siecle, Paris, 1929, Fig. 152

and I90; L. Binyon, J.V.S.Wilkinson and B. Gray, Persian Miniature Pazinting, London, 1933, N. 224

(P1. CIIIA) and 225. 26 Ivan Stchoukine, Les miniatures indiennes au Musee du Louvre, Paris, I929, P1. IIa. 27 Binyon, Wilkinson and Gray. op. cit., No. 229-33, pp. 120-I21.

12



Shah Abul-Ma'ali by Tuluk Khan Kuchi in I536, but doubtless painted later; and a

hunting scene in a Khamsa of Nizami, written in 1593.28 Gliick sees the hand of Abdus

Samad in several of the paintings and suggests that one of them29 might have been painted entirely by him as it shows a close resemblance to the figures in his signed draw-

ing in the Bodleian Library. But similar figures appear also in a number of paintings

by other artists of Akbar's school. For instance, the tall thin figure of 'Amr (see Fig. 3) is identical with figures of runners known from paintings by La] and others.30

MEHDI BAHRAMI:

L'EXPOSITION D'ART IRANIEN A PARIS

(Eipoque archaique)

BIEN QUE LE NOMBRE ASSEZ RESTREINT DES PIECES DE CERAMIQUE ARCHAIQUE

envoyees a l'Exposition du Musee Cernuschi soit loin de reveler toute la richesse du Musee

de Teheran la collection apporte pourtant de nouvelles lumieres sur l'histoire du second

millenaire en Iran, l'epoque appelee, non sans raison, "The Dark Age". Cette ceramique est

de deux types distincts: gris-noir et rouge. La premiere serie est representee uniquement par une cruche a bec, sans anse, dont le ver-

soir s'orne d'une tete de taureau aux comes redressees.1 Elle porte, autour de la panse, une

frise d'animaux courants et de motifs en meandre peinte en ocre rouge (fig. i). C'est la, jusqu'ici, le premier exemple de cramique gris-noir decoree de peinture. La forme

allongee et la queue relevee de l'animal temoignent d'une recherche de mouvement digne des maitres ceramistes de l'Anatolie. Ce vase a ete trouve dans la region de Kazwine, 28 Brown, op. cit., P1. VIII, Fig.2 and P1. XXXVI. 29 Gliick, op. cit., P1. 31. Staude regards this illustration as the work of Basawan. 80 Brown, op. cit., P1. XL, Fig. 2; W. Schulz, Die persisch-islamische Miniaturmalerei, vol. I-2, Leipzig, 1914, P1. P, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1 Iran, Pieces du Musee de Teheran, Paris 1948, Catalogue, No. 96. Haut. Om. 25.

Shah Abul-Ma'ali by Tuluk Khan Kuchi in I536, but doubtless painted later; and a

hunting scene in a Khamsa of Nizami, written in 1593.28 Gliick sees the hand of Abdus

Samad in several of the paintings and suggests that one of them29 might have been painted entirely by him as it shows a close resemblance to the figures in his signed draw-

ing in the Bodleian Library. But similar figures appear also in a number of paintings

by other artists of Akbar's school. For instance, the tall thin figure of 'Amr (see Fig. 3) is identical with figures of runners known from paintings by La] and others.30

MEHDI BAHRAMI:

L'EXPOSITION D'ART IRANIEN A PARIS

(Eipoque archaique)

BIEN QUE LE NOMBRE ASSEZ RESTREINT DES PIECES DE CERAMIQUE ARCHAIQUE

envoyees a l'Exposition du Musee Cernuschi soit loin de reveler toute la richesse du Musee

de Teheran la collection apporte pourtant de nouvelles lumieres sur l'histoire du second

millenaire en Iran, l'epoque appelee, non sans raison, "The Dark Age". Cette ceramique est

de deux types distincts: gris-noir et rouge. La premiere serie est representee uniquement par une cruche a bec, sans anse, dont le ver-

soir s'orne d'une tete de taureau aux comes redressees.1 Elle porte, autour de la panse, une

frise d'animaux courants et de motifs en meandre peinte en ocre rouge (fig. i). C'est la, jusqu'ici, le premier exemple de cramique gris-noir decoree de peinture. La forme

allongee et la queue relevee de l'animal temoignent d'une recherche de mouvement digne des maitres ceramistes de l'Anatolie. Ce vase a ete trouve dans la region de Kazwine, 28 Brown, op. cit., P1. VIII, Fig.2 and P1. XXXVI. 29 Gliick, op. cit., P1. 31. Staude regards this illustration as the work of Basawan. 80 Brown, op. cit., P1. XL, Fig. 2; W. Schulz, Die persisch-islamische Miniaturmalerei, vol. I-2, Leipzig, 1914, P1. P, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1 Iran, Pieces du Musee de Teheran, Paris 1948, Catalogue, No. 96. Haut. Om. 25.

13 13



Documents

Several Illustrations from the Dastan-i Amir Hamza in American Collections