Why were indian miniatures designed

Paper manufacture became something of a regional specialty by the sixteenth century. All types of paper favored by Persian artists were exceptionally thin and delicate. Often, several sheets would be pasted together to form a firm ground for painting upon. At least ten kinds of paper were recognized as quality stock and were frequently used in Persia by this time.

These included:. Paper from Damascus and Abyssinia was regarded as inferior in quality to that of Samarqand and Baghdad. The Safavid courts specified that no paper should be employed in their texts which was inferior to that of Samarqand. Emperor Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, even stated in his memoirs that the finest paper in the world came from Samarkand. Paper manufacture persisted in Baghdad and Samarkand until early in the twentieth century.

Many craftsmen were required to prepare the paper surface to receive calligraphy, illumination, or painting. Apprentices would often be put to work smoothing leaves of paper for a master painter or for more advanced apprentices in their atelier. A smooth surface was essential for the flowing line of Persian calligraphy or the exacting detail of miniature painting.

This was achieved by placing a leaf on a plank of smoothed chestnut wood with an even grain. The paper was then rubbed with a crystal or agate egg-shaped burnishing stone weighing approximately half-a-pound. After repeated burnishing, the paper surface became as shiny as glass, and also less porous to the pigments used in painting.

This gave the painter increased control over the painting process by reducing the tendency for pigments to run or bleed across the paper surface.

Some calligraphers and artists sized their paper with a thin coating of egg white or light soap to make it more receptive to fluid line. Iranian paper makers generally used egg white as sizing, while their Indian counterparts preferred a starch solution of rice-water. Paper was not introduced to India until considerably later, likely in the late 14th century. Previously, Indian Buddhists, for whom written texts were essential components of their religion, wrote calligraphy on palm leaf strips and bound them into books.

Indians generally tolerated a more coarse paper surface than their Persian counterparts. Cotton was always bleached before being used to make paper.

Rag, linen, or sillc refuse from textile weaving were also materials from which paper was often made. A broad palette of pigments is represented by the painted miniatures in the Minassian Collection. Mineral pigments, organic inks and dyes, and earth tone pigments are all important components of the miniature painter's palette.

To maximize the versatility of the available materials, painters frequently mixed their pure colors to obtain a range of secondary and tertiary colors. To these colored pigments was added the gleam of metallic gold and silver leaf, commonly used in Persian, Mughal, and later Indian miniatures.

All pigments had to be prepared before they were suitable for use in painting. Pigments had to be finely ground, generally with a mortar and pestle, to achieve the greatest possible depth of color and vibrancy. Secondly, pigments had to be filtered with a series of washes to remove impurities which decrease the pigment's brilliance.

Third, the pigment had to be mixed with a binding medium. Binding medium serves three important purposes: it increases the fluidity of the paint mixture, allowing it to be more easily spread on the surface of the paper. Binders also make the pigments increasingly water soluble. Finally, binders constitute the medium which physically holds the paint to the paper surface after the water in the paint mixture has evaporated.

These steps were universal among painters for whom details of material availability, training, and cultural traditions may have been very different. As such, the constraints of the medium may be treated generally. However, some regional differences exist in terms of local preferences for particular types of binding media over others.

These will be addressed in the sections describing each pigment. Black: Black was one of the most important colors for all miniature painters. It was used to prepare sketches and underdrawings for finished leaves and to provide a depth of tone within paintings themselves. Black was most often obtained from a source of pure carbon, often by burning organic material such as bone, oil, or wood and collecting the soot that was produced in combustion. This soot was then ground.

For use as a paint, a water-soluble binder was added to the soot. Charcoal was produced in sticks suitable for sketching by burning twigs, which yielded convenient writing implements. Charcoal powder was also used to transfer compositions via pouncing, a process described elsewhere. Black has the advantage of being universally available, inexpensive, and highly permanent. White: Persian and Mughal artists used lead-white, zinc-white and chalk to produce white pigrnents.

It was also used as a pigment, accenting particular details of a composition. White was often mixed with other pigments to obtain pastel shades, particularly blues and purples. Red: Red was regarded as a color of festivity and celebration.

A great variety of red pigments were available to the Persian painter. One of the most important of these was red ochre, obtained from iron oxide. Red ochre was not scarce or expensive compared to other red pigments. Under Emperor Akbar, portraitures documenting palace life and the various achievements of royalty became a prominent feature. European paintings techniques such as shading and perspectives were also introduced at a later stage within these paintings.

Jahangir with Abbas I of Persia. With angels holding up the sun, this is a typical example of the influence of European Art in Mughal Miniature Paintings. Due to decreased patronage during the reign of Aurangzeb, many artists proficient in Mughal Miniature Art migrated to other princely courts. Subsequently, Rajput miniature painting developed in the modern day Rajasthan in the 17 th th century. An 18th-century Rajput painting by renowned miniature artist Nihal Chand. Unlike Mughal miniature art, which depicted royal life, Rajasthani miniatures centered around the love stories of Lord Krishna and the mythological literature of Ramayana and Mahabharata, created as manuscripts and decorations on the walls of havelis and forts.

The Kishangarh style is noted for highly exaggerated features like long necks, large, almond shaped eyes, and long fingers. Godhuli - Hour of Cowdust, Mewar School, ca. Krishna and his fellow cowherds bring home the cows in the evening. Another style that evolved under the patronage of the Rajputs, was the Pahari style in the mountain regions located between Jammu and Himachal Pradesh. The Pahari school developed as an assimilation of Mughal miniature art and Vaishnavite stories.

Image source: christies. The Deccani style refers to the miniature art style that was practiced in Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Golkonda and Hyderabad from the 16 th th century. In the beginning, this style developed independent of Mughal influences. Even before he succeeded his father, Akbar, he had attracted a number of artists to his entourage while serving as a viceroy over provinces south of Delhi. But unlike his father, Jahangir was more interested in artistic merit than public relations.

Although he was much more interested in architecture than painting, the royal school that had been assembled by Jahangir continued to produce. It was at this time that the painters began to use perspective more commonly. There was no diminution in the elegance and lavishness of the paintings from the previous reign but border decorations in books changed so that images of people would be accompanied by people in the borders.

The emperor, Aurangzeb r. Their interests were not the same of course as that of the imperial court. The subject of amorous dalliance becomes important for the first time — often an idealized man and woman drinking wine on a terrace at night. A second favorite topic was hunting, again often at night.

The most significant event for the Mughals occurred after this time - the conquest and sacking of Delhi in by the Iranian Nadir Shah. Functional Functional. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

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