Painting
ca.1562-1577 (made)
The Hamzanama, or 'Book of Hamza' was commissioned by the great Mughal emperor Akbar in the mid-16th century. The epic story of a character based very loosely on the life of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad chronicles the fantastic adventures of Hamza as he and his band of heroes fight against the enemies of Islam. The stories, from a long-established oral tradition, were written down in Persian, the language of the court, in multiple volumes. These originally had 1400 illustrations, of which fewer than 200 survive today. Work probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete.
This very damaged page is said to depict Hamza, Landhaur, Umar Ma'dikarb and Sa'ad who die in battle at the Uhud Mountain near Medina, following which Hamza was buried by the Prophet himself.
This very damaged page is said to depict Hamza, Landhaur, Umar Ma'dikarb and Sa'ad who die in battle at the Uhud Mountain near Medina, following which Hamza was buried by the Prophet himself.
Object details
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gouache on prepared cotton backed with paper; the text on the reverse is written on paper backed with cotton; the folio therefore has 4 layers. |
| Brief description | Hamza, Landhaur, Umar Ma'dikarb, and Sa'd die in the battle at the mountain near Medina, and Hamza is buried properly by the Prophet himself. Hamzanama. 1562-77 |
| Physical description | A battle scene covers the entire composition, with caparisoned horses being truncated by the limits of the page. The participants are arranged in receding lines, and the scene is viewed from a high viewpoint. The surface is very damaged and some of the faces have been damaged. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | (text number 91.) |
| Credit line | Given by Madame Schindler |
| Object history | An illustration from the epic romance of the Hamzanama. |
| Historical context | The 'Hamzanama' was the first major project undertaken by the new painting studio of the Mughal court. Directed by two Iranian masters brought to India by Humayun, work began under Akbar and was said to have taken fifteen years to complete, drawing from artists from all over northern Hindustan. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | The Hamzanama, or 'Book of Hamza' was commissioned by the great Mughal emperor Akbar in the mid-16th century. The epic story of a character based very loosely on the life of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad chronicles the fantastic adventures of Hamza as he and his band of heroes fight against the enemies of Islam. The stories, from a long-established oral tradition, were written down in Persian, the language of the court, in multiple volumes. These originally had 1400 illustrations, of which fewer than 200 survive today. Work probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete. This very damaged page is said to depict Hamza, Landhaur, Umar Ma'dikarb and Sa'ad who die in battle at the Uhud Mountain near Medina, following which Hamza was buried by the Prophet himself. |
| Bibliographic reference | Seyller, John. The Adventures of Hamza. Smithsonian Institution. 2002, p. 271, cat R115. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 125-1882 |
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| Record created | July 8, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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