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Babur's troops take the fortress at Kabul

Farrukh, Dhannu, and Dharmdas, Indian, b. 16th century
Dharmdas, Indian, b. 16th century
Dhannu, Indian, b. 16th century

Creation date: ca. 1590-1600

Creation place: India

Other Information

Type: Watercolor Painting

Medium and Support: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Accession Number: 1990.288

State/Province: Uttar Pradesh

Provenance

Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, New York ( - June 1, 1961)

Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California (June 1, 1961 - August 27, 1990)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (August 27, 1990 - )

Label Copy

The Great Mughals: Power and Patronage (2002-3)
Akbar (The Great), 1542-1605

BABUR’S TROOPS TAKE THE FORTRESS AT KABUL (AKBARNAMA)
Farrukh, Dhannu, and Dharmdas
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, ca. 1590
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection
1990:288

MANUSCRIPT
As Akbar matured and faced the challenges of rulership over a subject people who saw the Mughals as outsiders to India, he commissioned fewer fables and fantastic tales from his painters and more histories and documentary works intended to shore up the Mughal claim to the sub-continent. This leaf is from an Akbarnama (Chronicles of Akbar), a history commissioned by the emperor to document his reign.

SUBJECT
The Akbarnama begins with episodes of the life of Babur, Akbar’s grandfather. This leaf depicts a significant event in Babur’s establishment of the empire: the capture of the kingdom of Kabul, south of the high mountains of the Hindu Kush, and gateway to Hindustan (the Mughal name for the northern sub-continent.) Babur’s own memoirs describe the scene: “the few people who remained in the fortress were in a dither… and through God’s grace and favor I regained once more (for the Timurids) the kingdom of Kabul and Ghazni without bloodshed.” Although there are a few headless men and a downed horse in the picture, Babur’s troops remain in an ordered array behind him, and he sits calmly on his heavily protected horse.

STYLE
Compared with the organization of the Hamzanama page seen nearby, this leaf has a measured flow of action, beginning in the lower right, leading to Babur and then to the bridge and the open gate. Colors are subdued, and the landscape supports the figures. Narrative detail remains strong but it is kept secondary to the main dramatic event.

November 2004
Asian Tastes Installation
This painting was part of a manuscript commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and it depicts an exploit of his grandfather, Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire in India. Here Babur is shown riding victorious through the gates of the fort at Kabul in Afghanistan, which he conquered in 1504. It reflects Akbar's taste for violence and the drama of a climactic moment in battle.
An inscription on the painting indicates that three artists of the imperial workshop collaborated on this page:
the famous Muslim artist Farrukh Chela did the drawing, while the Hindu painters Dhannu and Dharm Das did the coloring and the important faces, respectively.
Firmada por Farrukh, Dhannu y Dharm Das

December 2007
Designs on Each Other: Indian Paintings and European Prints
Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire in India (d. 1526), rides victorious to the gates of the fort at Kabul in Afghanistan, which he conquered in 1504. An inscription on the painting indicates that three artists of the imperial workshop collaborated on this page: the famous Muslim artist Farrukh Chela did the drawing, while the Hindu painters Dhannu and Dharmdas did the coloring and the important faces, respectively. Many paintings in the Mughal imperial library were dispersed and eventually brought to Europe after the sack of Delhi by the Persian warlord Nadir Shah in 1739. There they were collected and used as sources for European studies of faraway India.

Sonya Quintanilla (2014) Quebec
Babur's troops take the fortress at Kabul
From a Baburnama (“Life of Babur”)
India, ca. 1590–1600
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. 34.2 x 21.7 cm
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.288

This painting was part of a manuscript commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and it depicts an exploit of his grandfather, Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire in India. Here Babur is shown riding victorious through the gates of the fort at Kabul in Afghanistan, which he conquered in 1504. It reflects Akbar's taste for violence and the drama of a climactic moment in battle.
An inscription on the painting indicates that three artists of the imperial workshop collaborated on this page: the famous Muslim artist Farrukh Chela did the drawing, while the Hindu painters Dhannu and Dharmdas did the coloring and the important faces, respectively.

Last Updated: 9/5/2017

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Persian and Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd The Portland Art Association , 9/28/1962 - 11/29/1962

Islamic Art from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibitions Service , 10/1/1966 - 10/19/1969

Islamic Art Across the World Indiana University Art Museum , 6/18/1970 - 10/1/1970

The Mughal and Deccani Schools: Indian Miniature Painting from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd The Portland Art Association , 12/2/1973 - 3/7/1976

The Great Mughals: Power and Patronage , 3/13/2003 - 9/1/2003

Into India: South Asian Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art San Diego Museum of Art , 2/28/2012 - 5/27/2012

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Dr. Edwin Binney, 3rd. The Mughal and Deccani Schools Portland Art Museum. Portland, Oregon, 1973
Page Number: 35, 40, Figure Number: 19

Dr. Edwin Binney, 3rd. The Mughal and Deccani Schools Portland Art Museum. Portland, Oregon, 1973
Page Number: 67

Richard Ettinghausen. Islamic Art from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd Smithsonian Institution. Washington, District of Columbia, 1966
Page Number: no. 68, Figure Number: 68

Theodore Robert Bowie. Islamic Art from Across the World Indiana University Art Museum. Bloomington, Indiana, 1970
Page Number: 38, no. 127

Dr. Edwin Binney, 3rd. Persian and Indian Miniatures, Portland Art Museum. Portland, Oregon, 1962
Page Number: 32, 33 no. 57, Figure Number: 57

Karl J. Khandalavala. Lalit Kala, Lalit Kala Akademi. New Delhi, India, April 1962
Page Number: 69

Som Prakash Verma. Mughal Painters and Their Work: Oxford University Press. New Delhi, India, 1994
Page Number: 145 no. 4

Som Prakash Verma. Mughal Painters and Their Work: Oxford University Press. New Delhi, India, 1994
Page Number: 134-135 no. 33

Som Prakash Verma. Mughal Painters and Their Work: Oxford University Press. New Delhi, India, 1994
Page Number: 139 no. 31

Mr. Pramod Chandra and Dr. Sonya Quintanilla. Rhythms of India: San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, California, 2008
Page Number: 29, 30, Figure Number: 5

Dr. Sonya Quintanilla and Patrick Coleman. Visiones de la India Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012
Page Number: 140, 279, Figure Number: cat. 57, p. 141

Dr. Sonya Quintanilla and Patrick Coleman. Visiones de la India (Mexico) Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia. Mexico , 2013
Page Number: 92, Figure Number: cat. 56, p. 93

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