Deccani Painting

Mark Zebrowski's Deccani Painting argues that a surprisingly large share of the masterpieces of Indian painting was made for the sultans of the Deccan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that at least three kingdoms — Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda — patronised outstanding painting long confused with Persian, Turkish or Mughal art because of their strong links with Safavid Iran. ^{1 2}

Twelve chapters: Ahmadnagar, with an appendix on Malik Ambar; the northern Deccan; three chapters on Bijapur under Ali Adil Shah I, Ibrahim Adil Shah II and Muhammad Adil Shah, with an appendix on marbled drawings; one on Ali II and Sikandar; three on Golconda; then Mughal hegemony (1687–1724) and Hyderabad and the provinces, with a table of rulers and an index of artists. ³

For the author, Deccani art reached a character of its own, owing as much to the sensuality of South Indian art as to Persianate traditions, with dense compositions, intense colour and a lyrical romanticism alien to Mughal sobriety and Iranian calligraphic subtlety. He rejects the common view that Deccani painting declined after the Mughal conquest: it was entering a new phase that the conquest cut short, and creativity continued under Mughal hegemony. ^{1 4 5}