Akbarnama battle scene and garden border

late 16th - early 17th century

An assault of riotous color, landscapes and monuments barely contained within their frames, and a host of characters spring from the pages of these two paintings. The palace scene focuses on people in various chambers of a richly decorated interior, and the battle scene, from the chronicle of the Emperor Akbar’s rule (the border is from a slightly later manuscript), layers soldiers, horses and elephants in a field beyond the walls of a nearby city. Both scenes are common for their time, making it impossible to specifically name the characters or places depicted, but each represents a golden age in Islamic figural painting.

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

9 15/16 x 5 7/8 in. (25.3 x 15 cm)

Gift of Mrs. John C. Atwood, Jr.

54.34

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryPortland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, "Gift to a City: Masterworks from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum", cat. # 90

Published References"Gift to a City" exhibition catalogue. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 90

Pal, Pratapaditya. "Elephants and Ivories in South Asia." Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981, #5, pp. 12-13

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