"Khwaja Umar Saved from Pursuers," Folio from the Hamzanama (The Adventures of Hamza)
Attributed in part to Kesu Das Indian
The painting belongs to a series of illustrations of the Hamzanama (Story of Hamza), a fictional account of the adventures of the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle Amir Hamza, who seeks to convert the world to Islam. This folio depicts Umar, a loyal helper of Hamza, being saved from his pursuers by a heavenly hand which reaches out to pull him skyward. Unusually for the Hamzanama this folio displays a certain amount of European influence, seen in the billowing clouds, impressionistic blue-tinted forest and scattered bones. Kesu Das was pre-eminent among early Mughal painters to adapt these techniques from European prints and engravings that were circulating at court. This painting is like to have been composed and detailed by him, working with another anonymous artist.
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