Rare Book School
Preliminary Reading
List
Indian Manuscript Illustration, 1450-1800
Daniel Ehnbom
Some of these works are out of print but available in libraries or (often at some considerable cost, unfortunately) from used/antiquarian book dealers.
Before coming to class, you should have read the following:
Topsfield, Andrew. An introduction to Indian court painting. London: H.M.S.O., 1984.
Excellent brief guide. In print; used copies readily available at www.bookfinder.com.
Ehnbom, Daniel. Indian Miniatures: The Ehrenfeld Collection. New York: Hudson HIlls Press in association with the American Federation of Arts, 1985.
An exhibition that functioned as a general intro to a wide range of Indian manuscript illustration. In print.
Ehnbom, Daniel. "A Leaf of the Qissa-i Amir Hamza in the University of Virginia Art Museum and Some Thoughts on Early Mughal Painting," in Rosemary Crill, Susan Stronge, and Andrew Topsfield, eds., Arts of Mughal India: Studies in Honour of Robert Skelton, pp. 28-35. Ahmadabad: Mapin, Ltd., in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum and Christie's, Ltd. (London).
The subject of this article is something from the collection we'll be looking at. In print.
Turner, Jane Shoaf, ed. The Dictionary of Art. Passim, and "Indian subcontinent: painting," v. 15, pp. 543-654. London: Macmillan & Co., and New York: Grove, 1996.
Also available online through major libraries and by subscription, but only the 35-volume hard copy has the illustrations selected by the authors. In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I was South Asia Area Editor for Painting and Sculpture for the project.
In addition to reading the titles listed above, you should at least look at the following:
Chandra, Pramod. The Tuti-Nama of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Origins of Mughal Painting. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1976.
A major work -- best read after getting some general background from some of the other readings.
Seyller, John. The Adventures of Hamza: Painting and Storytelling in Mughal India. Washington, DC, and London: The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in association with Azimuth Editions, Ltd., 2002.
Excellent catalog of an exhibition reconstructing the most ambitious undertaking of the fledgling Mughal workshop in the 1560s and 70s in the reign of Akbar (r. 1556-1605).
Khandalavala, Karl. "Leaves from Rajasthan."Marg 4, no. 3, pp. 2-24, 49-56. Dipavali, 1950.
An An important article -- contentious, argumentative, and often annoying, but Khandalavala was a pioneer who presented a wide range of material essential to any understanding of Indian manuscript illustration.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. Rajput Painting. 2 vols. Oxford, 1916; reprint ed., New York: Hacker Art Books, 1975.
A classic, and still important for the theoretical framework if not for the dates he proposes. In print.
The following are works that you will want to reference as you read the other titles on this list:
Ebeling, Klaus. Ragamala Painting. Basel, 1973.
Not really something to sit down and read, but full of useful material.
Stchoukine, Ivan. La Peinture Indienne a l'Epoque des Grand Moghols. Paris: E. Leroux, 1929.
Still unsurpassed as a general introduction to manuscript illustration and album painting in India from the 15th to 18th centuries. Stchoukine's family owned the greatest collection of post-Impressionists in Russia. It was nationalized after the Revolution (the Hermitage's "La danse" by Matisse is just one major work from the holdings), and members of the family still mount legal challenges to get it back. Stchoukine was a student of Henri Focillon, and dedicated this book to him.