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Photo: Paul Macapia
Hamza and Umar exchange insults with Ghazanfar and challenge him to battle outside the fortress of Armanus
Photo: Paul Macapia

Hamza and Umar exchange insults with Ghazanfar and challenge him to battle outside the fortress of Armanus

Dateca. 1570
Attributed to Mukhlis and Madhva Khurd Indian
Label TextThis page comes from one of the world’s most monumental illustrated manuscripts, valued for its workmanship, page size, length, and patronage. Commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar while still in his teens, the Hamzanama took 15 years and an army of artists to complete. Each of its 1,400 oversized pages consisted of a complex illustration on cloth backed by text on paper. As the images were held up in turn and the tale was recited, the experience would have been akin to watching an animated film. The Hamzanama recounts the real and imaginary adventures of Hamza, uncle of the prophet Muhammad, as he travels the world to spread Islam. In this image, he rides in from the lower right and exchanges insults with Ghazanfar, ruler of the wildly patterned fortress, to goad him into a fight. The episode concludes with Hamza stealing Ghazanfar’s armor, conquering the fortress, and converting its inhabitants.
Object number68.160
Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia
Exhibition HistoryWashington, D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, The Adventures of Hamza, June 23, 2002 - Oct. 21, 2003. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Feb. 8, 2020 - July 11, 2021].Published ReferencesHeermaneck, Alice, "Masterpieces of Indian Painting formerly in the Nasli M. Heermaneck Collections," Alice N. Heermaneck, Publisher, 1984, plate 140, p. 172; text p. 151. (Cf. 46.28, 45.69, 57.78) "Selected Works." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, p. 150 Beach, Milo Cleveland, "The New Cambridge History of India: Mughal and Rajput Painting," Cambridge University Press, 1992, Color Plate C, p. 64-65 Seyller, John. "The Adventures of Hamza", Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2002, cat. no. 38, illus. p. 130 Foong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): pp. 56-57, reproduced fig. 17.
Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Richard E. Fuller
Dimensions34 15/16 x 28 3/4 in. (88.8 x 73cm)
MediumOpaque watercolor, ink and gold on cloth with paper backing
Akbarnama battle scene and garden border
Indian
late 16th - early 17th century
Object number: 54.34
Photo: Sarah Berman
Persian
early 16th century
Object number: 41.25
Miniature of Jain Kalpa sutra; Mahavira scenes
Indian
15th century
Object number: 51.56
Bahram Gur Punishing Azadeh
Persian
1341?
Object number: 52.41
Illuminated page:  Battle Scene
Islamic
1508
Object number: 49.175
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Indian
1670-80
Object number: 62.91
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Persian
ca. 1550-1580
Object number: 47.96
Book Cover Exterior with Yusuf (Joseph) and His Brothers
Persian
18th century
Object number: 42.12.1