North India, India

Title

Cyrus administering justice

Place of origin

North India → India

Period

Mughal Empire circa 1526 - 1857 → India

Year

circa 1585

Media categories

Manuscripts, Miniature, Watercolour

Materials used

opaque watercolour with gold on paper

Dimensions

23.9 x 13.0 cm

Signature & date

Not signed. Not dated.

Credit

Gift of Michael Hobbs 2001

Accession number

334.2001

Location

Not on display

Further information

This finely painted miniature depicts the ruler Cyrus the Great, who unified vast territories across the Iranian plateau to form the Achaemenid empire. The format of the manuscript is typically Persian: the image occupies a rectangular band at the centre of the page and is surrounded by four narrow columns of calligraphy. However the stylisation of the figures and the exquisite naturalistic rendering of their faces is characteristically Mughal, showing the Indian adaptation of the Persian miniature painting form.

The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.37.

Bibliography (1)

Jackie Menzies (Editor), The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 'Mughals and Maharajas: The Miniature Paintings of Courtly India', Domain, 2003, 37 (colour illus.).

Exhibition history (1)

Intimate Encounters: Indian paintings from Australian collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Feb 2007–04 May 2007