- Khwaja Abdus Samad
Khwaja Abdus Samad (16th century) was anIran ian painter and one of the founders of the Mughal school of painting inIndia . He was born inShiraz .Early in life, Samad became known for his
painting andcalligraphy . Samad met the Mughal emperorHumayun inTabriz , where he was invited to come with the emperor, though he was unable to accompany the emperor at that time. In 1548, he came to the temporary Mughal capital, KabulBlochmann, H. (tr.) (1927, reprint 1993). "The Ain-I Akbari by Abu 'l-Fazl Allami", Vol. I, Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, pp.554-5] where he was hired byHumayun to teach himself and his sonAkbar , how to draw. Samad was thus one of the first to become a member of theimperial atelier (imperial art studio ) ofIndia . A few of his works executed during this period is located in theRoyal Library of theGolestan palace inTehran . One such miniaturepainting created by Samad depictsAkbar giving a miniaturepainting to his fatherHumayun . This painting looks very typical of Persianpainting s of that time, but it also contains aspects that would go on to influence futureIndia npainting .While at the
atelier , Samad supervised (along withMir Sayyid Ali ) the illustrations that were done for theHamzanama - about 1,400 largepainting s (although it is uncertain whether Samad himself painted any of them). Also in the course of teaching at theatelier , Samad taughtDasvant andBasavan , twoHindu men who went on to become famous Mughal painters.In 1576,
Akbar put Samad in charge of theFatehpur Sikri mint. In 1584,Akbar made himdewan ofMultan . He was given a "mansab" of 400 and honored with the title of "Shirin Qalam" (sweet pen)Blochmann, H. (tr.) (1927, reprint 1993). "The Ain-I Akbari by Abu 'l-Fazl Allami", Vol. I, Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, pp.554-5] .More of Samad's work can be seen in the
illustration s found in the 1595manuscript of theKhamseh ofNezami , today located in theBritish Museum .Notes
References
*
Encyclopedia Britannica ,2005 edition
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
