The Deccan miniature paintings are not as well-known as those made by the Mughals, for which they commissioned as many as 100 painters. Mughal kings like Akbar and Shah Jahan worked towards propagating art and architecture during their reign. But there were other kings, equally vain and obsessed with leaving their mark on history, who loved their portraits on paper. One of them was he Sultan of Bijapur, Ibrahim Adil Shah II.
Sultan Adil Shah II, the sixth ruler of the Adil Shah dynasty, ruled between 1580 and 1627. He had an artist named Hashim in his court, who went from the Deccani court to the Mughal court around 1620. It means that the same hands that painted the pictures of Adil Shah II have painted Jahangir (who ruled when Hashim entered the Mughal court) and, possibly, Shah Jahan.
Adil Shah II loved miniature paintings, used as illustrations that were part of a manuscript. Sometimes, they served as front covers. Other times, they were standalone paintings or independent works of art. It all depended on the Emperor.
Apart from having Hashim gracing his court, Adil Shah II had a famous painter named Farrukh Hussain. Hussain is one of the few Deccani painters known by their names. One of his paintings, Horse and Groom, was made with ink, watercolour and gold.
The Sultan of Deccan was a noted patron of art. Adil Shah II was a musician and author, too. It only made sense that paintings flourished during the reign of Adil Shah. Some painters were not as lucky as Hussain and Hashim. Their names were unknown.
For example, the portrait, The Procession of Ibrahim Adil Shah II, about 16 x 25 cm, was painted by an unnamed artist known only as the ‘Bikaner Painter,’ indicating he was from Bikaner. The portrait depicts Adil Shah II wearing yellow, walking with a stick in one hand while caressing his moustache with the other. A few of his men are following him, including one who looks like he is fanning the Sultan.
One portrait of Adil Shah II is of when he was 19 years old. The Sultan ascended the throne as early as 1579 but only began to rule in 1590. Till then, he was just a little boy. The portrait of 19-year-old Adil Shah II praised the Sultan highly. Another portrait of the Sultan called Gulshan-i-Ishq, made after his death, shows the sharp contrast between the 19-year-old boy and the grownup man. The chubby boy now had a fully-grown beard and a sharp jawline. He is shown sitting while court officials stand around him.
A London-based American scholar, Mark Zebrowski, took a particular interest in the Deccani miniature paintings. Unfortunately, many of these paintings are lost in the sands of time. Only a few remain. Zebrowski took on the task of finding and cataloguing these paintings. The details, vivid colours, and subject matter set them apart. Of Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II, Zebrowski said,
Passionately fond of painting, music and poetry, he caused sweeping changes to occur in Deccani painting just as the Mughal Emperor Akbar transformed Mughal art. When he assumed full power at the age of twenty….Bijapuri painting suddenly erupted brilliantly mature…. Although always retaining an earthy wildness, the finest Bijapuri works from this point onwards fully equal the most splendid Mughal and Safavid paintings, both in expressive power and technical achievement.
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