Akbar

This painting by the Mughal court artists Kesav Kalan and Dharmdas is an illustration from the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar), the history of the reign of Akbar (r.1556-1605) . It depicts an incident that took place after the Mughal army defeated Baz Bahadur, the Muslim ruler of Malwa in north-central India, in 1561. His court was renowned for its beautiful women dancers and musicians, some of whom are depicted here performing for the Mughal emperor.

The Akbarnama was commissioned by Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign. It was written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abu’l Fazl, between 1590 and 1596, and the V&A’s partial copy of the manuscript is thought to have been illustrated between about 1592 and 1595. This is thought to be the earliest illustrated version of the text, and drew upon the expertise of some of the best royal artists of the time. Many of these are listed by Abu’l Fazl in the third volume of the text, the A’in-i Akbari, and some of these names appear in the V&A illustrations, written in red ink beneath the pictures, showing that this was a royal copy made for Akbar himself. After his death, the manuscript remained in the library of his son Jahangir, from whom it was inherited by Shah Jahan.

The V&A purchased the manuscript in 1896 from Frances Clarke, the widow of Major General John Clarke, who bought it in India while serving as Commissioner of Oudh between 1858 and 1862.