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Alternate Views

Aug 6, 2012

Oct 6, 2015

Mar 25, 2016

Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza)

c. 1560s–70s

India, Mughal, 16th century, made for Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)

Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on cotton and paper

Page: 83.7 x 67 cm (32 15/16 x 26 3/8 in.)

Gift of George P. Bickford 1976.74

Location

not on view

Did you know?

The title in the bottom margin is a continuation of the text on the previous page.

Description

Wielding a curved sword, and with a stabbing dagger tucked into his belt, the hero Alamshah perches on a cliff above a rushing torrent of water. The villain who raised the massive bronze plug on the dam in order to wash away the hero’s camp has just been slain, his body tumbling backward. This page came from a 14-volume book commissioned by Emperor Akbar. Astonishing in size and scale, the paintings reveal Akbar’s preference for dramatic action. The distinctive, recognizable Mughal painting style was fully developed over the 15 years it took to produce the Hamza-nama. Shading, volume, animated gestures, and vibrant color are some of the main characteristics that distinguish Mughal paintings from earlier works made in India and Iran.

Provenance

Tabbagh; George P. Bickford, Cleveland.

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 303 archive.org

Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. cat. no. 10

Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 170-171

Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 327, no. 11.8

Seyller, John William, and W. M. Thackston. The Adventures of Hamza: Painting and Storytelling in Mughal India. Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, 2002. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 51, pp.162-163, R78, p. 266

Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 332, no. 11.19

Douglass, Scott, and Dennis J. Sporre. The Creative Impulse. Seventh Edition. Seventh Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2006. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 322, fig. 10.18

Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 174-175

Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie. "From the Fifth Vizier's Story to the Gifts of Timur: Mughal Paintings by Sravana in the Cleveland Museum of Art." Orientations: The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art, November/December 2013, pp. 13-18. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 5

Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245); December 31, 2013 - June 30, 2014.

Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977).

The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).

The Adventures of Hamza. Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC (organizer) (June 21-September 29, 2002); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (November 1, 2002-January 26, 2003).

Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.74|year=c. 1560s–70s|access-date=26 October 2021|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza)

Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza)

India, Mughal, 16th century, made for Akbar

Location

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