Arghan Div Brings the Chest of Armor to Hamza
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About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
The oversize series known as the Hamzanama is a landmark of Indian painting, the first major product of a workshop formed by the Mughal emperors from a mix of Indian and Iranian artists. Created in the mid-16th century, the Mughal Hamzanama originally had 1,400 pages; they are now dispersed, with many lost or damaged. The Brooklyn Museum has four pages in remarkably good condition. This lively composition shows a benevolent demon—recently converted to the new religion of Islam—helping the hero Hamza by retrieving a chest of armaments from the seafloor.
Hamza’s exploits are depicted on sheets of fabric with pages of text glued to the reverse. This format likely accommodated storytelling performances, with the paintings held up while a narrator read aloud. Multiple artists worked on each page, bringing together their talents and training in Indian or Persian traditions. The bold colors are typical of traditional Indian manuscript painting, while the vertical hillsides and elaborate architecture and textiles draw from classical Persian painting. The charming details of nature and human behavior, however, are not characteristic of either older school.
Object Label
The Hamzanama recounts the picturesque exploits of Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. The Mughal emperor Akbar (ruled 1556–1605) ordered his artists to prepare an illustrated copy of the Hamzanama on a scale never seen before: 1,400 paintings on sheets of paper backed with cloth. Literary sources record that though more than fifty painters busied themselves with the colossal undertaking, it took fifteen years to complete. Four of the folios are held by the Brooklyn Museum.
This painting depicts the demon Arghan bringing a casket of arms to Hamza. Emerging from the water, here rendered by frothy, curling waves, he presents a seemingly ferocious aspect with his spotted skin, flaming eyes, and sharp fangs projecting from a mouth with a rather frozen grimace. On the shore is Hamza, seated on a throne beneath a bright canopy held up by two poles and ropes. His sovereign status is indicated by a row of attendants on his left, carrying such insignia as the yak-tail whisk that is waved over Hamza\'s head.
Caption
Indian. Arghan Div Brings the Chest of Armor to Hamza, 1562–1577. Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton, sheet: 31 1/8 x 24 15/16 in. (79.1 x 63.3 cm) image: 26 5/8 x 20 11/16 in. (67.5 x 52.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 24.47. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 24.47_front_IMLS_SL2.jpg)
Tags
Collection
Collection
Culture
Title
Arghan Div Brings the Chest of Armor to Hamza
Date
1562–1577
Dynasty
Mughal
Geography
Place made: India
Medium
Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton
Classification
Dimensions
sheet: 31 1/8 x 24 15/16 in. (79.1 x 63.3 cm) image: 26 5/8 x 20 11/16 in. (67.5 x 52.5 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Collection Fund
Accession Number
24.47
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
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