Themes > Arts > Painting > Islamic Painting Art > Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collections > The Mughal Collection

Once Akbar (1556 - 1605) took charge of the Mughal empire from his father Humayun, he extended it and improved his relations with the chivalric Hindus, the Rajputs. It was then that Muslim art experienced a metamorphosis in India. Emperor Akbar has long epitomised the renaissance man in India. In fact he is credited with the Mughal renaissance. With his government under control, a magnificent court that contained "Naorattan", nine of India's most gifted men in the highest echelons of his empire, Akbar retained the best available painters. These talented artists synthesised the Mughal painting style from Persian, indigenous Indian and European sources. The realistic painting showed the diversity of Indian life, and included some specimens from the plethora of India's fauna and flora. The Akbari paintings concentrated on action. Akbar's son Jahangir (A.D. 1605-1627), was a half Hindu, the son of Akbar's first wife, the Rajput Princess Joda Bai. Unlike the history painting and illustrations of religious epics under Akbar, both Hindu and Muslim, Jahangir championed individual portraits and natural history subjects. Shah Jahan (1627 -1657) Jahangir's son, turned more towards religion. He lived at a time when the Mughals were at the height of their prosperity, and the paintings of his court depict the formal elegance of Mughal India. A cold, distant, even somewhat restrained effect marked the paintings of an age best remembered for the Taj Mahal (completed in 1654). So, from this rich spectrum, Prince Sadruddin has several examples of Mughal paintings, covering all the leading epochs. The early Mughal paintings show the Timurid strains, the Mongol links (obvious in their sinicised eyes) and the rock formations idealised in Chinese paintings. The Safavid elements mingled, the Hindus contributed, and what surfaced as Mughal art is well represented in Prince Sadruddin's collection. The "Pictorial Genealogy of Jahangir" is a painting that to my mind typifies the abiding enthusiasm which Muslim patrons of art have had for Islamic history. This is what I consider the "roots-syndrome" which is indicative of a continuing heritage. Along with anonymous Mughal painters, there are such famous names as Abd al-Samad, Makund, Basawan, Mitra, Balchand, Abu'l-Hasan, Bishnadas, Muhammad'Ali; they are all represented in the Prince's Collection. This is not a "Who's - Who" of Mughal painters but a sophisticated round-up of historical scenes, courtiers, gorgeous tulips and aged pilgrims - a synthesis, one might say, of the best Mughal paintings that have become available in the last thirty years. There are fine examples from the schools of Deccani painting. The 1650 "Floral Fantasy" is typical of the excellence for which the Prince aspired, when putting all these diverse Islamic works of art together. Then there are the paintings from the twilight years of the Mughals and the British Raj, such as Story-teller, Dancer and Musicians, dated 1810 - 1820 from the Fraser Album that Sotheby's auctioned a few years ago. The setting is full of men eager to enjoy themselves, entertain and be entertained, simply by making music and there is an unmistakable air of revelry. The oral tradition of narration, so deeply ingrained in the Muslim psyche, is evoked in this painting. This was a world governed by poetry and enhanced by dancing.

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