Ustad Mansur, Nadir al-Asr

Milo Cleveland Beach notes that whereas Jahangir praised Abu'l Hasan above all other painters, it is Mansur whom he mentions most often. ¹ In his memoirs Ustad Mansur has become such a master that he bears the title Nadir al-Asr, and he and Abu'l Hasan have "no third" in Akbar's reign or Jahangir's; the emperor ordered him to record a rare falcon and a diving bird seen in a stream, and noted that the flowers of Kashmir Mansur had painted numbered more than a hundred. ²

All his work is more coloured drawing than painting: unpainted paper is prominent, there is minimal layering of pigment, and the lines are minute and painstaking, quite unlike the swift, independent rhythm of Iranian line. ¹ His earliest works are in manuscripts, painted but not designed by him, such as a Babur-nama page of about 1590–95 designed by Kanha and painted by Mansur that already shows his style complete; it continues in the Zebra of the Minto Album of 1621. The Peafowl is probably a late work, more brilliant in colour and more controlled in composition. ^{1 3}

His case shows the problem of attribution in extreme form: his productivity and fame encouraged contemporary and later copies, and the Kevorkian and Wantage Albums hold works of about 1800 inscribed to him, recognisable by soft, imprecise brushwork. ³