A Tatar soldier

Object Details

• Court

  Ahmadnagar Court

• School/Tradition

  Deccani school

• Label

  While much of northern India was under the rule of the Mughal emperors, the Deccan plateau of the south was controlled by a series of Muslim sultanates, including Ahmadnagar, which was ruled by the Nizam Shahi sultans. As in the rest of the Deccan, foreigners, or afaqis, were a major presence at the court; in fact, their strong cultural links with the Middle East, especially Iran, has often led to confusion between Deccani and Iranian painting styles. Turkoman princes themselves, possibly accompanied by their painters and artisans, emigrated from Tabriz in Iran to the Deccan in the late fifteenth century. While the subject of this drawing is a Turkoman warrior, the emphasis on the volume of the body as well as the speckling on the shield and the style of the plumed cap are typical conventions of the Deccan art of Ahmadnagar.

• Provenance

  To 1929

  Kirkor Minassian, New York to 1929 [1]

  From 1929

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Kirkor Minassian, New York in 1929 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Object file, undated folder sheet note.

  [2] See note 1. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Masterworks of Indian Painting (December 13, 1997 to June 13, 1998)

  South and South East Asian Art (May 9, 1993 to February 7, 2000)

  From the Hand of Mani (January 18, 1985 to July 5, 1985)

  The Brush of the Masters: Drawings from Iran (October 14, 1978 to May 30, 1979)

  Near Eastern Art—Paintings, Pottery (August 18, 1967 to February 10, 1972)

  Near Eastern Art (June 5, 1964 to August 18, 1967)

  Special Exhibition Afghanistan (September 3, 1963 to June 5, 1964)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Manuscripts (May 1, 1945 to September 25, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, Persian Manuscripts (May 5, 1933 to September 22, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, Shahnama and Chinese Art (March 24, 1930 to May 5, 1933)

  Near Eastern Pottery and Persian Painting (May 2, 1923 to March 14, 1931)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944)

• Origin

  Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra state, Deccan plateau, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1590s, 1500s

• Name

  Minassian, Kirkor

• Place

  Ahmadnagar, Deccan plateau, Maharashtra state, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Warrior, Art, Shield, Swords, Bow

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings