Mughal painters and their work

a biographical survey and catalogue

Edición de la obra Mughal Painters and Their Work

The Mughal school of painting (mid-sixteenth to seventeenth centuries) produced a body of work of great distinction. This is the first comprehensive book of reference on the work of the nearly 300 Mughal painters with whose names we are acquainted. Unlike the artists of the European Renaissance tradition, Mughal painters did not as a matter of course sign their work. Hence, the inscriptions that exist on paintings of the period require careful scrutiny to determine whether they are genuine signatures or contemporary ascriptions. The key to this lies in the form of the inscription: if the name is accompanied by a ritual phrase of self-abasement such as 'this humble slave' or 'the humblest slave of the court', it can be taken to be a signature. This convention has not been sufficiently recognized and, in many instances, attributions have been erroneously made to artists on the basis of their name alone appearing on the painting. Hence, the correct reading and interpretation of the inscriptions is of central importance to our knowledge of the work of Mughal painters. This catalogue provides, in addition to the standard categories of information on each painting, a scholarly and informed assessment of all the inscriptions on the paintings, several of which are published here for the first time. Inscriptions are given in transliterated form wherever possible; in those cases where the author has not had access to the painting, the published version is provided even if only in translation. All paintings that have been signed by the artist, or are ascribed to him in contemporary inscriptions, are listed under the painter's name in chronological order. Unsigned paintings, or those without a contemporary endorsement, have not been included unless respectable scholarly opinion has assigned the work to an individual. However, all such attributions are accompanied by a query against the entry. Many ascriptions, till now accepted as being genuine, have proved on closer scrutiny to be either forged or later than the date of the painting. Information about individual artists has been gleaned from original texts (principally Persian historical sources) and is pieced together to reconstruct biographical sketches which introduce each entry; this is supplemented by the evidence of the artist's own work. Part I comprises an Introduction which sets out the scope of the catalogue, and provides the historical and artistic context in which these painters worked. Part II comprises the catalogue, and is followed by a plate section (Part III) of over fifty miniatures that illustrate the development of the Mughal school. The bibliography, glossary, and two indexes further enhance the value of this indispensable reference work.