Watercolour

The Hamzanama, or Book of Hamza, was commissioned by the great Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) in the mid 16th century. It is based very loosely on the life of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. The epic story chronicles the fantastic adventures of Hamza as he and his band of heroes fight against the enemies of Islam and against monsters, demons, dragons and sorcerers. The tales, from a long-established oral tradition, were written down by calligraphers in Persian, the language of the court, in multiple volumes. These originally had 1400 illustrations, of which fewer than 200 survive today. Work probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete.