DecortypePaper, Painting & Prints › Miniature Painting

Mughal & Rajput miniatures

South Asia tradition · 5 examples · indicative market tier: $50k–1M (high collector)

Mughal painting is a style of miniature painting, used as either book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (muraqqa), which originated during the Mughal period in the Indian subcontinent. It reflects an exclusive combination of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles.As the name suggests, these paintings evolved as well as developed during the rule of Mughal emperors in India, between 16th to 19th century The Mughal emperors were Muslims and they are credited with consolidating Islam in the subcontinent, and spreading Islamic (and particularly Persian) art and culture as well as th Wikipedia →

Types & examples

The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Seventh Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Seventh Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot), c. 1560
Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of Raja Jagat Singh of Nurpur (reigned 1618–46)
Portrait of Raja Jagat Singh of Nurpur (reigned 1618–46), probably 1619
Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of Murad Bakhsh (1624–61)
Portrait of Murad Bakhsh (1624–61), c. 1635; borders c. 1700s
Cleveland Museum of Art
Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window
Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window, c. 1765
Cleveland Museum of Art
Page from the Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) of Abd al-Rahman Jami (Persian, 1414–1492), with two Persian masnavis (narrative poems): Yusuf va Zulaykha (Joseph and Zulaykha) and Subhat al-abrar (Rosary of the Righteous)
Page from the Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) of Abd al-Rahman Jami (Persian, 1414–1492), with two Persian masnavis (narrative poems): Yusuf va Zulaykha (Joseph and Zulaykha) and Subhat al-abrar (Rosary of the Righteous), Text c. 1500–1520; painting, borders, and illuminations added 1603–7 Text copied by Sultan-Ali Mashhadi (Persian, active early 1500s) for Badi al-Zaman Mirza, ruler of Herat Painted insets and borders by Mushfiq (Indian, active 1580s–early 1600s) Text copied in Herat Painting, borders, and illuminations made in the Deccan for Mughal minister Abd al-Rahim the Khan Khanan
Cleveland Museum of Art

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