The House of Bijapur is a 17th-century Deccan-style painting in the Bijapur school. It is currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City.[2]
| The House of Bijapur | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Chand Muhammad and Kamal Muhammad |
| Year | circa 1680 |
| Dimensions | 41.3 cm × 31.1 cm (16.3 in × 12.2 in)[1] |
| Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City |
Significance
editThe House of Bijapur is of a larger size than most manuscript pictures, measuring sixteen by thirteen inches. It is also significant due to its subject matter; no other extant Bijapur paintings depict the members of the dynasty in a group, from the founder to the last ruler. Genealogical paintings of this sort, emphasizing the rulers' lineage, are known in Mughal art, and one of the most famous examples of this is the Princes of the House of Timur in the British Museum.[3]
The painting is one of the last works of the Bijapur school of miniature painting, representing the final phase of the style. It is dated to about 1680, and the Bijapur sultanate was conquered by the Mughals in 1686. Stuart Cary Welch thus describes the work as "a painted curtain call", as in, the last appearance of a group of actors to receive an ovation, before the play ended.[3]
Style
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The motivation behind such multi-generational depictions, common in Mughal art, was to symbolize the legitimacy of the rulers.[1] The layout of The House of Bijapur seems to be taken from a painting by Govardhan dated to about 1630-1640, depicting Babur receiving the imperial crown from his ancestor Timur, as Humayun looks on.[4]
While directly inspired from Mughal art, the artists have deliberately incorporated traditional elements of the Bijapur school in the painting. This is seen in the choice of the color palette, rich in lavender-pink, and distinctive shades of green, deep orange, and gold. The mountains in the background are of Safavid inspiration. The shifts in scale and perspective, sometimes illogical, such as the stairs leading up to the carpet without any support, are meant to convey an otherworldly mood.[5]
This deliberate use of Bijapuri and Safavid elements, while the subject itself is taken from Mughal art, shows the intent of the artists, to depict the Adil Shahi rulers as distinct from, but equal in stature to, their Mughal counterparts.[6]
Description
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In the middle is the principal subject; The painting depicts eight of the nine rulers of the Bijapur Sultanate; leaving out only Mallu Adil Khan, whose reign lasted for only seven months.[7] Each king is seated on a throne, the throne of the dynastic patriarch being the most elaborate.[1]
Ismail is shown wearing a twelve-pointed cap (a reference to the twelve Imams of Shia Islam). He was a devout Shia, and during his reign, he had mandated the wearing of this cap for his soldiers. Ibrahim I in contrast, is depicted in a white and gold robe, and a tight turban characteristic of the Deccanis. Ali I is depicted in full battle armor, in a nod to his victory at the battle of Talikota.[8]
At the center is Yusuf Adil Khan, the progenitor of the dynasty. He is dressed in a green robe, the color symbolizing spiritual authority, and seated on a gilded throne, with a golden key in his right hand, a sword in his left, and with his right foot atop a globe. The key as well as the globe are motifs borrowed from Mughal paintings, used to symbolize the authority of the emperor.[9]
At his right side is a standing figure, appearing to have just given the key to Yusuf. This figure, wearing a Safavid style turban, is identified as Shah Abbas in an inscription. However, scholars including Zebrowski assert that this inscription is a later, erroneous addition, and that the figure is likely Shah Ismail or Shaykh Safi Ardabili.[10]
The final ruler, at the right edge, is Sikandar Adil Shah. He is depicted as a dark-skinned child of about ten to twelve years of age.[11]
The names of the artists, Kamal Muhammad and Chand Muhammad, are given in an inscription on the left.[5]
Background
editBeyond the hilltops, the ocean is depicted. Some scholars are of the opinion that this alludes to the short period of time the Adil Shahis controlled the Goan coast, thus representing the kingdom at its zenith.[5][12]
Base
editAt the base of the painting are two attendants resting their hands on a staff on the left, and a groom with a horse on the right, with a small staircase in the middle. B. N. Goswamy notes that a horse with a groom is to be interpreted as a sign of a recent arrival, and that perhaps here it symbolizes the arrival of the young ruler Sikandar to the group of Adil Shahi monarchs.[1]
Derivative works
editA smaller iteration of this painting, in the Golconda school was among the fifty-five paintings collected by Niccolao Manucci.
References
edit- ^ a b c d Goswamy, B. N. (2014-12-01). The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 100 Great Works 1100-1900. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-93-5118-862-9.
- ^ Painting by Kamal Muhammad (active 1680s); Painting by Chand Muhammad (Indian, active 1680s) (1680), The House of Bijapur, retrieved 2024-12-06
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Hutton 2016, p. 1.
- ^ Hutton 2016, p. 3.
- ^ a b c Ekhtiar, Maryam (2011). Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 380. ISBN 978-1-58839-434-7.
- ^ Hutton 2016, p. 4.
- ^ Zebrowski 1983, p. 152.
- ^ Hutton 2016, p. 8-9.
- ^ Hutton 2016, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Zebrowski 1983, p. 150.
- ^ Michell, George; Zebrowski, Mark (2008-03-28). Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-05343-3.
- ^ Hutton 2016, p. 6.
Bibliography
edit- Zebrowski, Mark (1983). Deccani painting.
- Hutton, Deborah (2016). "Memory and Monarchy: A Seventeenth-Century Painting from Bijapur and its Afterlives". South Asian Studies. 32 (1): 22–41. doi:10.1080/02666030.2016.1179433. ISSN 0266-6030.