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Court Patronage of Art and Technology

Court Patronage of Art and Technology

Section titled “Court Patronage of Art and Technology”

2020-04-27 12:30:23

Art

Section titled “Art”
  • Akbar gave liberal patronage to the growth of fine arts during his rule
  • Mir Syed Ali and Khwaja Abdus Samad were Persian painters who worked under Babur and Humayun.
  • Humayun commissioned painting ‘Princes of the House of Timur’ and dated in 1550 executed on cloth and is extremely large in size.
  • Ain i Akbari mentions about Akbars likeness of Tasvir from early youth, works of Darogah’s and clerks were rewarded.
  • Prices of such art pieces were carefully ascertained, it says that even inanimate objects had life.
  • Painters such as Kesu Das, Maohar, Daswant and Kesu Khurd used to work in the Tasvir Khana.

![[Pasted image 20220909115122.png | Princes of the House of Timur | 500]]

Tasvir Khana

Section titled “Tasvir Khana”
  • 1st Major project under his reign was Hamzanama began in 1562,
  • the place was known as Tasvir Khana where painters worked.
  • There were more than 155 painters, even painters from ‘low castes’ were raised to status of royal artists. Ex Daswant.

![[Pasted image 20220909115255.png | Hamzanama | 500]]

Features of Paintings

Section titled “Features of Paintings”
  • Various features were symmetrical composition, restricted movement of figures, fine line drawings, flat depiction of architectural columns, profuse embellishment of buildings.
  • Distinctive features that developed later were naturalism and rythm, clothing assumed an Indian form, extraordinary vigour of action, luxuriant depiction of foliage.
  • Most commonly used themes were daily events of courts, portraits of leading personalities.
  • Some famous illustrated manuscripts were :

Illustrated Manuscripts under Akbar

Section titled “Illustrated Manuscripts under Akbar”
Illustrated ManuscriptsDate
Hamzanama1562-1580
Anwar-i Suhailic. 1570
Tutinamac. 1570-1580
Tarikh-i Khandan-i Timuriyac. 1570-1590
Baburnamac. 1570-1590
Akbarnamac. 1570-1600
Tarikh-i Alfic. 1570-1600
Razmnama1582

Akbars Court Patronage to Science and Technology :

Section titled “Akbars Court Patronage to Science and Technology :”
  • No breakthrough was made in Physics, astronomy, Chemistry, geography and mathematics. Traditional knowledge was taught and rewritten. This has been ascribed by French traveller Careri.
  • Mir Fathullah Shirazi has been opined by Abul Fazl as being full of wisdom and knowledge. He is credited with the invention of some mechanical devices like the ‘true’ solar calender called Ilahi in 1584.
  • Abul Fazl was aware of the discovery of America by Europeans: he gives the Persian term ‘alam nau’ for the “New World”.
  • New agricultural method ‘dibbing ‘was employed for cotton cultivation.
  • Tobacco, pineapple, cashew nuts and potato were most important crops brought from America. Tobacco led to hukkah smoking. Tomato, guava and red chilles were also brought from outside. Abul Fazl mentions Maize in Ain i Akbari.
  • Central Asian fruits like grapes and melons were grown. Grafting as been suggested as being used.
  • Carpet weaving was patronised in Lahore, Agra and Fathepur Sikri. Second was silk and silk fabrics.
  • Abul Fazl claims the manufacture of handguns without matchlocks, but he is silent on the alternative mechanism. It could be flint lock., they were produced on a limited scale.
  • Abul Fazal Credits Akbar for the invention of wheel cleaning mechanism for gun barrels and mechanism where 17 guns could be joined and fired simultaneously.
  • He tells us about ships where 468 mans of iron were used, some Mughal ships used iron nails, strips and clamps for constructing vessels as seen in their paintings.
  • Fazl describes the technique of making iron cannons and handgun barrels at Akbar’s arsenal. They were made of bronze, brass and iron.
  • Zawar in Rajasthan was a source of Zinc, Copper from Khetri mines of Rajasthan, Tin was imported. Wootz steel was still being manufactured.

PYQs

Section titled “PYQs”

Court patronage of art and technology

  1. Give an estimate of Akbar as a promoter of technology. [2009, 30m]