To rewind the clock, Indian miniature painting tradition can well be linked to the first illuminated manuscripts, starting with as early as circa 1000. These were Buddhist, Jain or Hindu texts done on palm-leaf folios between exquisite wooden covers. With the advent of Mughal rule in India, paper was introduced. This resulted in a greater number of illustrated books. During Akbar's regime, Indian painting underwent a radical transformation. His kitabkhana employed over a hundred full-time painters, assistants and apprentices.
His successors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan also valued books, gradually integrating and imbibing the then European elements through wonderful works brought to court by foreigners. Other distinctive schools of painting to emerge were under the kingdoms in the Rajasthan, Pahari and Deccan regions that gained in stature with the Mughal empire’s gradual decline.
The miniature paintings then had several eye-catching features; some of them as follows:
•Ink and water-based opaque pigments applied to wasli (a thick layered support by bringing together multiple sheets of delicate hand-made paper employing a wheat-based adhesive)
•Usage of semi-precious stones, such as lapis lazuli or malachite ground for pigment
•Silver or gold leaf applied to them
The traces of collecting Indian miniature paintings go back a century - to the early 1900s. Among the then collections now on public view and available for contemporary collectors to study are Ernest Binfield Havell. He compiled one of the earliest Indian miniature paintings collections at the Calcutta Art Gallery.
The number of people keen to acquire miniature works has only been growing since then. However, connoisseurs should first ideally familiarize with the history and trajectory of this fascinating art form and how tough it is to produce these exquisite works, to truly appreciate them. It makes sense to seek the advice of specialists with experience in this field.
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