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Akbar Travels by Boat to Agra
Tulsi - Enlarge image
Akbar Travels by Boat to Agra
- Object:
Painting
- Place of origin:
India (possibly, made)
Pakistan (possibly, made) - Date:
ca. 1590-1595 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Tulsi (artist)
Narayan (artist) - Materials and Techniques:
Opaque watercolour and gold on paper
- Museum number:
IS.2:3-1896
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This painting from the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicts the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) travelling from Delhi to Agra by boat. Akbar is shown standing up within a royal box inside the boat. Several other boats carrying his entourage can also be seen in the painting. The Mughal court artist Tulsi designed the composition, and Narayan painted the details.
The Akbarnama was commissioned by Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign. It was written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abu’l Fazl, between 1590 and 1596, and the V&A’s partial copy of the manuscript is thought to have been illustrated between about 1592 and 1595. This is thought to be the earliest illustrated version of the text, and drew upon the expertise of some of the best royal artists of the time. Many of these are listed by Abu’l Fazl in the third volume of the text, the A’in-i Akbari, and some of these names appear in the V&A illustrations, written in red ink beneath the pictures, showing that this was a royal copy made for Akbar himself. After his death, the manuscript remained in the library of his son Jahangir, from whom it was inherited by Shah Jahan.
The V&A purchased the manuscript in 1896 from Frances Clarke, the widow of Major General John Clarke, who bought it in India while serving as Commissioner of Oudh between 1858 and 1862.
