Walters Ms. W.684, Two folios from the Akbarnama

W.684

Two folios from the Akbarnama

Vernacular: اكبر نامه

Vernacular: فرهنڱ جهانڱيرى

Authority name: Abū al-Faẓl ibn Mubārak, 1551-1602

Supplied name: Abū al-Faẓl ibn Mubārak

Name, in vernacular: ابو الفضل بن مبارک

Supplied name: Jamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Injū Shīrāzī

Name, in vernacular: جمال الدين حسين انجو شيرازى

Note: Author name supplied by cataloger

These two Mughal paintings are originally from a copy of the Akbarnāmah, the official history of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (r. 964-1015 AH / 1556-1605 CE), written by Abū al-Faẓl ibn Mubārak (d. 1011 AH / 1602 CE). The manuscript from which the two paintings derive is divided largely between the British Library (Or. MS 2988) and the Chester Beatty Library (Ms. 3). This illustrated historical manuscript has been dated between the late tenth century AH / sixteenth CE to the initial years of the eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE. The two Walters paintings are pasted over the central text panel of a page from Farhang-i Jahāngīrī, an imperial Persian language dictionary by Jamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Injū Shīrāzī (d. 1035 AH /1625 or 6 CE). This was done in the early twentieth century by the French dealer Demotte.

End of the 10th century AH / 16th CE

India

Leaf

Historical

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Foliation: Not applicable

22.5 cm wide by 34.5 cm high

13.0 cm wide by 23.5 cm high

1. Images: 13.2 cm wide x 23.5 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 35

1. Title: Akbarnāmah
2. Author: Abū al-Faẓl ibn Mubārak, 1551-1602
3. Hand note: Written in nastaʿlīq script in black with lemmata in red
4. Decoration note: Two illustrations surrounded by borders richly decorated with human figures, performing various functions, and floral designs, all in gold

1. Title: Farhang-i Jahāngīrī
2. Author: Jamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Injū Shīrāzī
3. Text note: Two folios only; first lemma: pachvāk (fol. 1b); last lemma: mahland (fol. 2b)
4. Hand note: Written in small nastaʿlīq script in black with lemmata in red

fol. W.684Aa:

1. 
2. Title: Execution by elephant
3. Form: Illustration

fol. W.684Ab:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated text page
3. Form: Text page
4. Label: This illuminated text page comes from Farhang-i Jahāngīrī (a Persian language dictionary) by Jamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Injū Shīrāzī (d. 1035 AH / 1625 or 6 CE).

fol. W.684Ba:

1. 
2. Title: The hanging of Shāh ʿAbd al-Maʿalī
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This illustration has the inscription: Shāh ʿAbd al-Maʿlī being hanged on the order of Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥakīm.

fol. W.684Bb:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated text page
3. Form: Text page
4. Label: This illuminated text page comes from Farhang-i Jahāngīrī (a Persian language dictionary) by Jamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Injū Shīrāzī (d. 1035 AH / 1625 or 6 CE).

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

For Akbarnāmah see Storey, C. A. Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey, Vol. 1. (London: Luzac, 1927- ), 543-549.

For Farhang-i Jahāngīrī see Storey, C. A. Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey, Vol. 3. (London: Luzac, 1927- ), 26-29.

Welch, S. C., "Early Mughal Miniature Paintings from Two Private Collections Shown at the Fogg Art Museum." Ars Orientalis 3 (1959): fig. 12.

Binney, E. Indian Miniature Painting from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd. The Mughal and Deccani Schools (Portland: Portland Art Museum, 1973), no. 20.

Beach, Milo Cleveland, Stuart Cary Welch, and Glen D. Lowry. The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India, 1600-1660 (Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1978), 41-43; nos. 3-4.

Beach, Milo Cleveland. The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court (Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1981), 102-103; 116-123; nos. 12a-c, e-f.

Leach, Linda York. Mughal and Other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Vol. 1. (London: 1995), 232-300.

Schmitz, Barbara J. Islamic and Indian Manuscripts and Paintings in the Pierpoint Morgan Library. (New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1997), 151-152.

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.