Abd al-Samad | |
|---|---|
| Born | Khwaja 'Abd-us-Samad Shiraz, Iran |
| Notable work | Illustration of theHamzanama;Khamseh of Nizami |
| Awards | Master of the Mint (1576) Dewan of Multan (1584) |
| Patrons | Humayun;Akbar |
'Abd al-Ṣamad orKhwaja 'Abd-us-Ṣamad, was a 16th century painter ofPersian miniatures who moved to India and became one of the founding masters of theMughal miniature tradition, and later the holder of a number of senior administrative roles. 'Abd's career under the Mughals, from about 1550 to 1595, is relatively well documented, and a number of paintings are authorised to him from this period. From about 1572 he headed the imperial workshop of the EmperorAkbar and "it was under his guidance that Mughal style came to maturity".[1] It has recently been contended by a leading specialist, Barbara Brend, that Samad is the same person asMirza Ali, a Persian artist whose documented career seems to end at the same time as Abd al-Samad appears working for theMughals.[2]
Mirza Ali's name first appears in a famous manuscript of theKhamsa of Nizami, nowBritish Library Oriental 2265, which is dated March 1543.[3] According toStuart Cary Welch, there are only three other mentions of him in contemporary records. These say that he was the son of another leading artist of the court workshop,Sultan Muhammed, and so grew up in the milieu of the courtatelier, and was a distinguished painter. Kamal of Tabriz is recorded as a pupil of his.[4] The inscriptions in BL Or. 2265 are among the main sources for attributing Persian miniatures of the period. Six painters are named, and although the inscriptions are additions rather than signatures, they have been generally accepted as correct. Mirza Ali's name is inscribed on two miniatures, both courtyard scenes, and his father's on one, to which Welch adds two more un-inscribed miniatures.[5]
Welch further attributes several earlier miniatures to Mirza Ali, including six from theShahnameh of Shah Tahmasp of the 1520s; Brend is sympathetic to at least two of these attributions, but finds two unlikely, in terms of agreement with the style of the later works.[6] After considering some other isolated works, with mixed verdicts on his attributions, she firmly parts company with Welch over his attributions to Mirza Ali of six miniatures in another famous manuscript, theHaft Aurang made for PrinceIbrahim Mirza in 1555–56 (nowFreer Gallery of Art), after he should, if he were indeed also Samad, have left forAfghanistan and then India. Welch admits that the style of these paintings is different, but attributes this to a change in the spirit of the times, an explanation Brend finds hard to accept,[7] although the attributions are repeated by other scholars writing after Brend's paper; Sheila S. Blair finds they display "the artist's increasing spirituality and mannerism".[8] After discussing other aspects of the question, and comparing the styles of Mirza Ali and Samad, Brend suggests that they are indeed the same artist, who adopted asobriquet on moving to a new country.[9] Stylistic similarities include the layout of courtyard compositions and the arrangements of colour, details like a fondness for the virtuosic depiction of grilles and open-work screens, and similar treatment of figures.[10]
One source says that Samad's father was thevizier ofShah Shuja of Shiraz, a difficulty with her theory that Brend explains by speculating that this was instead his grandfather, in whose house he was brought up while Sultan Muhammed established his career at court.[11] According to Mughal records, Samad became a master in the court workshop ofShah Tahmasp I of Persia. He was also acalligrapher,[12] something not mentioned in connection with Mirza Ali. No works are generally attributed to him before about 1544–45,[13] although Welch attributes a miniature in the much earlier Shah TahmaspShahnameh to him. Brend finds this painting "unsatisfactory" and the work of an inexperienced painter.[14]
Samad first met the exiledMughal emperorHumayun inTabriz in 1544.[15] In 1546 Humayun asked Tahmasp to release Samad and his fellow PersianMir Sayyid Ali from his service so that he could engage them,[16] and in about 1549,[17][18][19] they arrived at Humayun's temporary capital inKabul, where Samad was engaged by Humayun to teach his sonAkbar, and possibly the emperor himself, how to draw.[18][20] With Mir Sayyid Ali andDust Muhammad, another Persian, Samad "introduced a fully imperial Persian style into the Mughal ateliers", which seem previously to have been small and consisting of artists trained in various centres includingBukhara.[21] Samad probably worked on the unusually large painting of thePrinces of the House of Timur (British Museum), which Humayun commissioned about 1550–55, in particular on the landscape background.[22] In 1552 a group of single miniatures including work by the two Persians was included in adiplomatic gift to the ruler ofKashgar, as Humayun worked to assemble support to regain his throne.[20] Some of his works from this period are in amuraqqa or album in the library of theGolestan Palace inTehran (MSS 1663–4), still showing a thoroughlySafavid style.[18][23] One of these miniatures depictsAkbar giving a miniature painting to his fatherHumayun, and includes Samad's name on a portfolio; the figure next to it is probably his portrait. The image both uses a fully Persian style, and includes thematic elements, including the self-portrait, that are "dazzling new departures in Islamic painting"[24]
Samad and Mir Sayyid Alifollowed the emperor on his return to India, only seven months before he died in 1556. They were retained by the fourteen-year-old Akbar who within a few years set about greatly expanding his court workshop.[25] A drawing with muted colour, inscribed with Samad's name, in theBodleian Library inOxford depicts the arrest, three days after Akbar's accession, ofHumayun's troublesomefavourite,Abdu'l Ma'ali, who is seized from behind by a burly courtier.[26] Both artists probably worked on theTutinama, the first major commission completed in the new reign, where the disparate styles of the several artists used remain clear. But Mir Sayyid Ali was initially given the supervision of Akbar's huge commission of the 1400 large illustrations for theAkbarHamzanama, which was to be fourteen years in the making.[18][27]
In about 1572 Samad replaced Mir Sayyid Ali (who returned to Persia) as head of the imperial workshop,[28] probably because under Sayyid the progress of the illustrations for theHamzanama was too slow. At this point the commission was seven years old and only four of the volumes were complete. Under Samad's direction the remaining ten volumes were completed in another seven years. It is uncertain whether Samad painted any of them himself,[29] but "the direction of Mughal painting increasingly came to follow the aims pursued by ‛Abd al-Samad. It is likely that the increased central control that became evident by the Lahore period [1580s on] can be attributed to this artist".[1] Among the mostlyHindu artists trained by Samad wereDaswanth andBasavan, who went on to become famous Mughal painters.[18]
Despite his role in forging the new Mughal synthesis of Persian and Indian styles, Samad's own works remain conservative, with a great interest in detail, and rather less in the new style of dramatic narrative and realism favoured by the young Akbar. But by the 1590s elements of his style, including a taste for detail, were in favour, though after his death Mughal painting turned in the direction of simpler compositions emphasising human interactions. He did not have the gift for realistic portraiture which Mughal painting introduced to the Islamic miniature, and unlike many Mughal artists, shows few borrowings from the European prints and other art available in Akbar's court.[30]
In 1576,Akbar put Samad in charge of theFatehpur Sikrimint, in 1582 he was made "overseer of commerce" and the next year put in charge of the royal household.[15] In 1584,Akbar made himdewan (official in charge of finances) ofMultan. He was given amansab of 400 and honoured with the title ofShirin Qalam (sweet pen).[31] The moves may have been in recognition of his talent for administration, but it has been suggested that "Akbar preferred a more robust approach than that of his romanticised Persian style of painting".[32] But he continued to paint and his last known work is a miniature, ofKhusraw hunting, in theillustrations of the 1595 manuscript of theKhamsa of Nizami.[18][33] Works with his name inscribed include a drawing ofAkbar with aDervish (Aga Khan Museum, c. 1586–87).[34] Another late work is a version of a famous Persian composition of two camels fighting byBehzād, which an inscription says was done at the request of his son Sharif when he was infirm.[35] He "must have died in the last years of the century".[36]
He had two painter sons, Muhammad Sharif,[37] and one called Bizhad, for the famous Persian artistBehzād (c. 1450 – c. 1535).[38] Muhammad Sharif was a friend of the next emperorJahangir, and like his father was given important administrative roles, a pattern unique among the many Mughal painter families.[15] Not all scholars are convinced these sons were not just one, as while Muhammad Sharif is relatively well documented, Bizhad is apparently only known from inscriptions on miniatures.[39]
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