Golconda painting

This article is about school of painting developed under the Golconda Sultanate. For painting by Rene Magritte, see Golconda (Magritte).

Wedding Procession of Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah ca. 1650

Golconda painting refers to the school of miniature painting developed during the reign of the Golconda Sultanate. It is itself a type of Deccan painting, and closely related to other Deccan schools, such as Bijapur and Ahmednagar.

Characteristics

Artists from all over India and the Islamic world emigrated to Golconda, up until the Mughal conquest in 1687. Consequently, Golconda paintings are the most heterogenous among the styles of the Deccan sultanates.

A local character did develop inevitably—according to Zebrowski, "Most Golconda work, regardless of its original source, has a tense opulence that is quite different from the poignant romanticism of Bijapur or the refined dignity of Ahmadnagar portraiture."

History

Ibrahim Qutb Shah

Sultan Ibrahim is regarded as the first patron of miniature paintings among the Golconda sultans.

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah

The fifth sultan of the dynasty, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, is regarded as an important patron of the arts. Most of the surviving paintings from this period are contained within a manuscript of the Kulliyat (collection) of the sultan's poetry, located in the Salar Jung Museum. This work is considered to be the sultan's own copy, owing to its rich illustration and illumination.

Abdullah Qutb Shah

As Golconda turned into a Mughal protectorate, the paintings from the 1630s and onwards show a distinctive Mughal influence. Golconda portraitists started placing their subjects against an empty background, as was done in Mughal portraits.

Abul Hasan Qutb Shah

Tree on the Island of Waqwaq. Golconda, early 17th century Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper Museum für Islamische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Hermann Goetz states, "All the datable products of this school belong to the times of Sultan Abul- Hasan. There is, however, every reason to believe that this school originated under his predecessor ‘Abdullah, during whose reign Golconda art was strongly influenced by that of the Emperor Jahangir's and, to a less extent, that of Shah Jahan’s court."

Mark Zebrowski posits that painters from Bijapur emigrated to Golconda in the middle of the seventeenth century, as can be seen from the influence of the Bijapur school in paintings of this period.

References

• Zebrowski. Deccani painting.
• Goetz, Hermann. Notes On A Collection Of Historical Portraits Form Golconda.