Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusraw Dihlavi; the boiling of the artificial rice

Historical period(s)
Delhi Sultanate period, ca. 1450
School
Pre-Mughal School
Medium
Ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 32 x 23.6 cm (12 5/8 x 9 5/16 in)
Geography
India
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1959.4
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript folio

Keywords
cooking, Delhi Sultanate (1206 - 1526), India, Khamsa, nasta'liq script, rice
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

Poets and painters associated with the Sultanate courts of India created an artistic culture that integrated Persian, Islamic and local elements. The author of the Khamsa (Quintet), the great poet, musician and mystic Amir Khusrau (ca. 1253-1325), composed poetry in both Persian and Hindi. Two centuries later, painters at another Sultanate court depicted the Khamsa stories in a style that combined the rounded silhouettes and three-quarter profile faces of near Eastern painting with the strong color of local Indian painting. The segmented columns are also drawn from local Indian architecture.

This Khamsa story tells of a carver who so skillfully sculpted grains of rice from bone that another artist boiled water to cook the artificial rice.

Published References
  • Eloise Brac de la Perriere. Les manuscrits a peintures dans l'Inde des sultanats: l'exemple de la Khamse dispersee d'Amir Khosrow Dehlavi, c. 1450. vol. 56. p. 33, fig. 21.
  • Milo Cleveland Beach. The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court. Exh. cat. Washington, 1981. p. 46, fig. 8.
  • Barbara Brend. Perspectives on Persian Painting: Illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsah. New York and London. p. 98, pl. 26.
Collection Area(s)
South Asian and Himalayan Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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