"A Supplicant at a Hindu Temple," Folio from the Hamzanama (The Adventures of Hamza)
Hamzanama paintings reflect the painting styles of two Persian artists (Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad) working with a number of local Indian artists (Daswant, Basawan among others) in a hybrid idiom known as the early Mughal style. The illustrations to this action-packed narrative of the fictional adventures of Amir Hamza, a figure of early Islam, also offered a visual analogue to the cultural exchange that was taking place at every level of Indian society.
This folio depicts a scene of a worshipper making a respectful salutation at the door of a Hindu shrine where he is received by a priest. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of idolatry, a practice deplored by Hamza as against the tenets of Islam, but represented nevertheless with conviction as an essential part of the narrative. A later intervention has resulted in the deliberate smudging of some of the faces of the human and sculptural elements (some subsequently repainted), evidence of how iconoclasm has remained an active response through the ages down to our present time.
This folio depicts a scene of a worshipper making a respectful salutation at the door of a Hindu shrine where he is received by a priest. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of idolatry, a practice deplored by Hamza as against the tenets of Islam, but represented nevertheless with conviction as an essential part of the narrative. A later intervention has resulted in the deliberate smudging of some of the faces of the human and sculptural elements (some subsequently repainted), evidence of how iconoclasm has remained an active response through the ages down to our present time.
Artwork Details
- Title: "A Supplicant at a Hindu Temple," Folio from the Hamzanama (The Adventures of Hamza)
- Date: ca. 1570
- Geography: Country of Origin India
- Medium: Opaque color and gold on cotton cloth
- Dimensions: Image: Ht. 27 5/8 in. (70.2 cm)
W. 21 in. (53.3 cm)
Frame: Ht. 33 1/4 in. (84.5 cm)
W. 26 3/4 in. (67.9 cm)
D. 1 in. (2.5 cm) - Classification: Codices
- Credit Line: Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions, Harris Brisbane Dick, and 2020 Benefit Funds; Howard S. and Nancy Marks, Lila Acheson Wallace, and Friends of Islamic Art Gifts; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; and funds from various donors, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.172
- Curatorial Department: Islamic Art
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Multiple artists/makers
931 AH/1524–25 CE
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi
Sultan Muhammad
ca. 1525
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi
Qasim ibn 'Ali
ca. 1530
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi
ca. 1430–40
probably early 15th century
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