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Daud Shah of Bengal is Taken Prisoner
La'l - Enlarge image
Daud Shah of Bengal is Taken Prisoner
- Object:
Painting
- Place of origin:
India (possibly, made)
Pakistan (possibly, made) - Date:
1590-1595 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
La'l (artist)
Premjiv (artist) - Materials and Techniques:
Opaque watercolour and gold on paper
- Museum number:
IS.2:102-1896
- Gallery location:
In Storage
The composition of this painting is by the Mughal court artist La’l, with details painted by Premjiv Gujarati, and it is an illustration to the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar). This image depicts a battle scene in which the king of Bengal, Daud Shah, has been taken prisoner. He is shown in the centre of the image with his hands bound together, surrounded by Mughal cavalry.
The Akbarnama was commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) 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.
