ImportMaster at 04:57, 3 May 2022

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{{short description|Form of miniature painting}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
[[File:Sultan-Ibrahim-Adil-Shah-II-of-Bijapur. Miniature. Deccan, Bijapur; c. 1590. The David Collection. (cropped).jpg|thumb|320px|Sultan [[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]], miniature, [[Bijapur]], c. 1590. The [[David Collection]]. A three-quarter view which gives a powerful and lively impression of the sitter, despite lacking both Mughal precision, and very coherent modelling of the surfaces.<ref>Crill and Jariwala, 110</ref>]]
'''Deccan painting''' or '''Deccani painting''' is the form of [[Indian miniature painting]] produced in the [[Deccan]] region of [[Central India]], in the various Muslim capitals of the [[Deccan sultanates]] that emerged from the break-up of the [[Bahmani Sultanate]] by 1520. These were [[Bijapur Sultanate|Bijapur]], [[Golconda Sultanate|Golkonda]], [[Ahmadnagar Sultanate|Ahmadnagar]], [[Bidar Sultanate|Bidar]], and [[Berar Sultanate|Berar]]. The main period was between the late 16th century and the mid-17th, with something of a revival in the mid-18th century, by then centred on [[Hyderabad]].<ref>Harle, 400; Craven, 216–217; Chakraverty, 69; Sardar</ref><ref name="Mark">{{cite book|title=Deccani Painting|last=Zebrowski|first=Mark|isbn=9780520048782|year=1983|publisher=Sotheby Publications}}</ref>

The high quality of early miniatures suggests that there was already a local tradition, probably at least partly of murals, in which artists had trained. Compared to the early [[Mughal painting]] evolving at the same time to the north,<ref>Craven, 216</ref> Deccan painting exceeds in "the brilliance of their colour, the sophistication and artistry of their composition, and a general air of decadent luxury".<ref>Harle, 400</ref> Deccani painting was less interested in realism than the Mughals, instead pursuing "a more inward journey, with mystic and fantastic overtones".<ref>Kossak, 15</ref>

Other differences include painting faces, not very expertly modelled, in three-quarter view, rather than mostly in profile in the Mughal style, and "tall women with small heads" wearing saris. There are many royal portraits, and although they lack the precise likenesses of their Mughal equivalents, they often convey a vivid impression of their rather bulky subjects. Buildings are depicted as "totally flat screen-like panels".<ref>Harle, 400–403 (quoted); Craven 216–217</ref> The paintings are relatively rare, and few are signed or dated, or indeed inscribed at all; very few names are known compared to the generally well-documented Mughal imperial workshops.<ref>Chakraverty, 70</ref>

The Muslim rulers of the Deccan, many of them [[Shia]], had their own links with the [[Persianate]] world, rather than having to rely on those of the [[Mughal Empire| imperial Mughal court]].<ref>Sardar; Chakraverty, 72; [http://images.library.wisc.edu/Arts/EFacs/Arts/ChazPubs/IndiMini/reference/arts.indimini.i0017.pdf Deccan Style paintings]</ref> In the same way, contacts through the large textile trade, and nearby [[Goa]], led to some identifiable borrowings from European images, which perhaps had a more general stylistic influence as well. There also appear to have been Hindu artists who moved north to the Deccan after the sultans combined to heavily defeat the [[Vijayanagara Empire]] in 1565, and sack the capital, [[Hampi]].<ref>Harle, 403–405; Craven, 216–217; Chakraverty, 69</ref>

==Early period, to 1600==
[[File:Farrukh Beg. Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II Khan hawking. Page from St. Petersburg Album. Bijapur ca.1590-95 (28,7x15,6cm) Institute of Oriental Studies St. Petersburg.jpg|thumb|The young [[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]] hawking, c. 1590, St. Petersburg.<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 169</ref>]]
Some of the earliest surviving paintings are the twelve illustrations of a manuscript ''Tarif-i-Hussain Shahi'', an epic-style poem on the life of Sultan [[Hussain Nizam Shah I]] of Ahmadnagar, leader of the Deccan alliance that defeated the Vijayanagara Empire. The manuscript was commissioned by his widow when she was acting as regent c. 1565–69, and is now in the [[Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal]], [[Pune]].<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 145–147; Craven, 216; Chakraverty, 70</ref> Six of the paintings, most unusually for India, show the queen prominently beside her husband, and another a traditional female-centred scene. Most of the portraits of the queen were scratched out or overpainted after her son [[Murtaza Nizam Shah I]] rebelled and imprisoned her in 1569.<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 145–147</ref>

There are 400–800 illustrations in the Bijapur manuscript [[Nujum-ul-Ulum]] (''Stars of Science''), an astronomical and astrological encyclopaedia of 1570–71, in the [[Chester Beatty Library]], [[Dublin]].<ref>Sardar; [slamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;ir;Mus21;40;en Chester Beatty page]; Michell and Zebrowski, 160–162</ref>

[[Ragamala paintings]], sets illustrating (by evoking their moods) the various ''[[raga]]'' musical forms, appear to have been an innovation of the Deccan. There is a large dispersed group, probably originally forming several sets, of late sixteenth-century Ragamala paintings, which has been much discussed. They are similar in style, but by several different hands and with a considerable range of quality, with the best "among the most beautiful Indian paintings from any period". They were probably made for Hindu patrons, and may have been produced in a provincial centre well away from the capitals. There were a number of Hindu rajas in the northern Deccan, [[feudatory|feudatories]] of the sultans.<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 153–157, 154 quoted; Harle, 401–403</ref>

By about 1590 styles at the courts of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur had reached a brilliant maturity,<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 151, 162–168; Harle, 400</ref> The "decadent fancifulness" of the ''Lady with the Myna Bird''<ref>Harle, 400</ref> and the young [[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]] hawking,<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 169</ref> both illustrated here, are famous examples of Deccani distinctiveness.

<gallery widths="170px" heights="200px">
File:Miniatures29.jpg|[[Ragamala painting]], Hindola Raga, c. 1585 (see text)
File:Indischer Maler um 1565 001.jpg|Scene from the [[Pune]] ''[[Tarif-i-Hussain Shahi]]'', 1565–69, with the queen later erased.
File:Lady with the Myna Bird.jpg|''Lady with the Myna Bird'', Golconda or Bijapur, c. 1605, [[Chester Beatty Library]].<ref>Harle, 400</ref>
File:A Composite Elephant Ridden by a Prince LACMA M.85.237.26.jpg|''A Composite Elephant Ridden by a Prince'', c. 1600, [[LACMA]]
File:Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II Riding His Prized Elephant, Atash Khan.jpg|[[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]] riding his favourite elephant Atash Khan, [[Bijapur]], c. 1600.<ref>[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60050386?rpp=20&pg=3&ft=jahangir&pos=47 Metropolitan Museum page]</ref>
File:Young prince and mentor Met 13.228.10.2.jpg|''Young Prince and Mentor'', c. 1600
</gallery>

==Subjects and style==
[[File:Al Buraq - 1770-75.jpg|thumb|Composite [[Buraq]], [[National Museum, New Delhi]], [[Hyderabad]], 1770–75.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/UgJSsSkMl8_LJw|title=Nauras: The Many Arts of the Deccan|website=Google Arts & Culture|language=en|access-date=2019-02-04}}</ref>|alt=]]
Beside the usual portraits and illustrations to literary works, there are sometimes illustrated chronicles, such as the ''[[Tuzuk-i-Asafiya]]''. A Deccan speciality (also sometimes found in other media, [[Powder_flask#Asia|such as ivory]])<ref>Born, Wolfgang, "Ivory Powder Flasks from the Mughal Period", ''Ars Islamica'', Vol. 9, (1942), pp. 93–111, Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4515592 JSTOR]</ref> is the "composite animal" a large animal made up of many smaller images of other animals. A composite [[Buraq]] and an elephant are illustrated here. Rulers are often given large haloes, following Mughal precedent. Servants fan their masters or mistresses with cloths, rather than the chowris or peacock-feather fans seen elsewhere,<ref>Harle, 401</ref> and swords usually have the straight Deccan form.<ref>Harle, 405</ref>

Elephants were very popular in both the life and art of the Deccani courts, and artists revelled in depicting them behaving badly during the periodic [[musth]] hormonal overloads affecting bull elephants.<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 151</ref> There was also a genre of drawings with some colour using [[marbled paper|marbling]] effects in the bodies of horses and elephants.<ref>Kossak, 68; [[:File:Brooklyn Museum - Stalling Elephant.jpg|Marbled elephant]]</ref> Apart from elephants, studies of animals or plants were less common in the Deccan than in Mughal painting, and when they occur they often have a less realistic style, with a "fanciful palette of intense colors".<ref>[https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/115138 "Finch, Poppies, Dragonfly, and Bee"], Brooklyn Museum</ref>

Unusually for India, there was a significant imported population of Africans in the Deccan, a few of whom rose to high positions as soldiers, ministers or courtiers. [[Malik Ambar]] of Ahmadnagar and [[Ikhlas Khan]] of Bijapur were the most famous of these; a number of portraits survive of both, as well as others of unidentified figures.<ref>Crill and Jariwala, 110, 116; Harle, 403</ref>

One of the most important patrons of the style was Sultan [[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]] of Bijapur (d. 1627), himself a very accomplished painter, as well as a musician and poet. He died the same year as [[Jahangir]], the last Mughal emperor to be an enthusiastic patron of painting other than imperial portraits.<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 162–164; Craven, 217; Sardar; Crill and Jariwala, 110</ref> The portrait from c. 1590 illustrated above, which comes from the same period as [[Akbar]]'s artists at the Mughal court were developing the Mughal portrait style, shows a confident but very different style. The extreme close-up view was to remain most unusual in Indian portraiture, and it has been suggested it was directly influenced by European [[old master print|prints]], especially those of [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], with which it shares a number of features.<ref>Crill and Jariwala, 110</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah Enthroned with Dancers and Attendants.jpg|Sultan [[Abdullah Qutub Shah]] of Golconda, enthroned with dancers and attendants, c. 1630
File:Anonymous - Radha and Krishna Embracing, Leaf from a Gita Govinda - 1962.241 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tiff|''Radha and Krishna Embracing'', from a ''[[Gita Govinda]]'', [[Aurangabad]] (?), c. 1650
File:Ikhlas Khan chief minister of Muhammad 'Adil Shah of Bijapur.jpg|[[Ikhlas Khan]], chief minister of [[Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur]]
File:Finch, Poppies, Dragonfly, and Bee India (Deccan, Golconda).jpg|Finch, Poppies, Dragonfly, and Bee, Deccan, c. 1650-1670, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, [[Brooklyn Museum]].
</gallery>

==Influence==
[[File:Southern India, Deccan - Group Portrait of Rajas Surrounded by the Courtly Retinue - 1996.296 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|thumb|Three rajas and attendants, 1700–20, rather large at 22x32.7 cm (8 11/16 x 12 7/8 in.)]]
The Mughal court was aware of the Deccan style, and some Deccani paintings, especially from Bijapur, were included in albums compiled by [[Akbar]] and Jahangir. Some Mughal painters adopted a quasi-Deccani style in the early 17th century, perhaps following instructions from their patrons.<ref>Chakraverty, 70</ref> Ibrahim Adil Shah II married his daughter, rather reluctantly, to Prince [[Daniyal Mirza]], son of Akbar, and the wedding gifts included volumes of paintings.<ref>Chakraverty, 71</ref> Several [[Rajput]] princes were generals in the Mughal armies fighting in the Deccan, leading to Deccan influences on early [[Rajput painting]]. In many cases Deccani painters probably migrated to the Rajput courts as their main patrons fell from power.<ref>Crill and Jariwala, 34; Chakraverty, 73; Harle, 395</ref>

==Decline==
Deccani painting flourished in the late 16th and 17th centuries, but suffered as the Mughals gradually conquered the region, and had already largely adopted a sub-Mughal style by around 1650. [[Berar Sultanate]] was absorbed by Ahmadnagar by 1574, and [[Bidar Sultanate]] was taken over by Bijapur in 1619; their contributions to the style, whether before or after conquest, are rather uncertain. The city of [[Ahmadnagar]] itself was taken by the Mughals in 1600, after the death of the regent-princess [[Chand Bibi]] (often portrayed after her death), but part of the territory continued an embattled independence until 1636, with [[Paranda]] as the capital until 1610, then the new city [[History of Aurangabad|later renamed as Aurangabad]]. The extinction in 1687 of the last two remaining sultanates of Bijapur and Golkonda, both ruled by the [[Qutb Shahi dynasty]], was a decisive blow. Most of both royal collections were destroyed in the conquest, which deprived painters remaining in the area of models to study.<ref>Chakraverty, 73; Kossak, 68</ref>

A new "hybrid Rajasthani-Deccani school of painting" developed in Aurangabad, which became the Mughal capital of the Deccan. One dispersed ragamala set, and a ''[[Gita Govinda]]'' set in an identical style, were long regarded as [[Rajput painting|Rajasthani]] until another manuscript in the style emerged, which was inscribed to record that it was painted in Aurangabad in 1650 for a patron from [[Mewar]] in Rajasthan; probably the painters were originally from there too.<ref>Michell and Zebrowski, 157–158</ref>

Mughal viceroys established a court at [[Hyderabad]], but this did not become a centre for miniatures until the next century, by then in a less distinctive late Mughal or post-Mughal style. By now paintings were not just produced for a small court circle, and markets had developed for types including sets of [[Ragamala paintings]], erotic subjects, and Hindu ones.<ref>Harle, 405–406</ref> Copies or imitations of old works such as royal portraits continued to be produced well into the 19th century.<ref>Chakraverty, 73</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Abul Hasan Qutb Shah.jpg|[[Abul Hasan Qutb Shah]], the last Sultan of [[Golconda]], 1670s; he was then imprisoned for 13 years to his death in 1699.
File:Ghazi ud Din Khan Feroze Jung I.jpg|[[Aurangzeb]]'s general at the [[siege of Golconda]], [[Ghazi ud-Din Khan Feroze Jung I]], [[Hyderabad]], 1690. His son was the first [[Nizam of Hyderabad]]
File:Govardhan_II,_Visit_of_sufi-singer_Shir_Muhammad_to_Abul_Hasan_Qutb_Shah,_ca._1720,_Bibliothèque_nationale_de_France,_Paris.jpg|Visit of sufi-singer Shir Muhammad to [[Abul Hasan Qutb Shah]], ca. 1720, [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]].
File:Muhammad Adil Shah II with courtiers and attendants.jpg|[[Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur|Muhammad Adil Shah]] (d. 1656) with courtiers and attendants, painted over a century after his death.
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{commonscat|Deccan style}}
*Chakraverty, Anjan, ''Indian Miniature Painting'', 2005, Lustre Press, {{ISBN|8174363343}}, 9788174363343
*[[Roy C. Craven|Craven, Roy C.]], ''Indian Art: A Concise History'', 1987, Thames & Hudson (Praeger in USA), {{ISBN|0500201463}}
*Crill, Rosemary, and Jariwala, Kapil. ''The Indian Portrait, 1560–1860'', [[National Portrait Gallery, London]], 2010, {{ISBN|9781855144095}}
*Harle, J.C., ''The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent'', 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, {{ISBN|0300062176}}
*Kossak, Steven. (1997). [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/12335/rec/74 ''Indian court painting, 16th–19th century.''] Metropolitan Museum of Art. {{ISBN|0-87099-783-1}}
*Michell, George, and Zebrowski, Mark, ''Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates, Volume 1'' (''The New Cambridge History of India'', vol 7), 1999, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0521563216}}, 9780521563215, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aHcfv6zkJgQC&pg=PA145 google books]
*{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/decc/hd_decc.htm|title=Islamic Art of the Deccan|last=Sardar|first=Marika|website=Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=2019-02-03}}

==Further reading==
*Navina Najat Haidar, Marika Sardar, ''Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy'', 2015, Metropolitan Museum of Art, ISBN 9780300211108, 0300211104, [https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sultans_of_Deccan_India_1500_1700/oi4nBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 google books]
*Zebrowski, Mark, ''Deccani Painting'', University of California Press, 1983

[[Category:Schools of Indian painting]]
[[Category:Deccan sultanates|painting]]
[[Category:Islamic arts of the book]]

Deccan painting - Revision history

ImportMaster at 04:57, 3 May 2022