"Hamid Bhakari Punished by Akbar", Folio from a Manuscript of the Akbarnama. Folio from the Davis Album

Author Abu'l Fazl Indian
 Painting attributed to Manohar

Not on view

This folio, attributed to the eminent Mughal court painter Manohar, is from one of the great manuscripts of Akbar's reign: the second edition of the Akbarnama, the chronicle of the emperor's life. The principal theme is not the one that dominates the composition—the slaughter of wild animals herded and corralled in a qamargha (tented enclosure)— but the one at lower left, where the shaved-headed figure of the humiliated courtier Hamid Bhakari is being paraded while seated backward on a mule. The four-day hunt dramatized here, which took place in 1567, and Bhakari's disgrace are both described in detail in the Akbarnama. Together, they signal the emperor's absolute power and its celebration through the display of the royal hunt.

This painting will be on view from June 20, 2015, through September 23, 2015.

"Hamid Bhakari Punished by Akbar", Folio from a Manuscript of the Akbarnama. Folio from the Davis Album, Abu'l Fazl (Indian, Agra 1556–1602 Deccan Plateau), Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

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