Umar searches for Hamza
Painting
ca.1562-1577 (made)
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. No independent, contemporary version of the text is known, making it difficult to follow the complicated stories from the residual text preserved on the back of each folio. Work on the volumes probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete.
Here, Hamza's faithful servant Umar searches for the missing hero, comes across a house in which Hamza and some of his companions have been detained. He gains entrance by disguising himself as a beggar, beats the guards with an ass's leg and rescues them.
Here, Hamza's faithful servant Umar searches for the missing hero, comes across a house in which Hamza and some of his companions have been detained. He gains entrance by disguising himself as a beggar, beats the guards with an ass's leg and rescues them.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Umar searches for Hamza (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | gouache on prepared cotton backed with paper |
| Brief description | In search of Hamza, Umar arrives at a house where prisoners are being beaten with the foot of a donkey; Umar sets his friends free and finds Hamza. Hamzanama. 1562-77 |
| Physical description | A fight between Umar wielding a donkey's foot and lower leg and the guards of a house occupies the foreground of a composition depicting the dwelling within a walled enclosure. Tiger skins and trophies made up of shields and swords hang on the outer walls. Within the doorway of the house are three figures, one of which is presumably Hamza. Two women are seen in the windows of a structure outside the walls at lower right. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | (Painting number 23, text number 24.) |
| Object history | bought for the museum by Caspar Purdon Clarke in Srinagar in 1881. |
| 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. |
| 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. No independent, contemporary version of the text is known, making it difficult to follow the complicated stories from the residual text preserved on the back of each folio. Work on the volumes probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete. Here, Hamza's faithful servant Umar searches for the missing hero, comes across a house in which Hamza and some of his companions have been detained. He gains entrance by disguising himself as a beggar, beats the guards with an ass's leg and rescues them. |
| Bibliographic references |
|
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.1514-1883 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
| Record created | July 8, 2002 |
| Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest
