An Emaciated Horse Harassed by Birds

• Accession Number:AKM908
• Place:India, Bijapur
• Dimensions:13.4 x 16.7 cm
• Date:mid-17th century
• Materials and Technique:marbling, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper

• The subject of this drawing, a starving nag, is not joyful. Nevertheless, it was remarkably popular with Iranian and Indian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. The delightful quality of the drawing suggests the importance of the topic.[1] The marbled nag has been vividly executed with a strong element of drama: tortured by two birds (one pecks at its flesh while the other glides down from above), the horse has blood-red flesh wounds at its withers, and its golden ribs are exposed. It is a paradox—the innocent birds torturing the starving horse. The artist gives the horse an eye socket by controlling the floating colours, thereby expressing pain. The grass and birds complete the scenic effect.[2]

Further Reading

The starving horse belongs to an iconographic tradition in Islamic art. Horses of this type were well-known in China during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), and were a vestige of the Song dynasty (960–1279).[3] The motif probably came into the repertoire of Iranian artists during the Mongol period through interaction with Chinese art. Central Asiatic examples in the nomadic context were created by Siyah Qalam in the 15th century.[4] Reza-e ‘Abbasi’s example of an emaciated horse with a peasant (now in Berlin) from the late 16th century, about 1592–93, and the drawing of a starving nag in the Reza-e ‘Abbasi Album in New York, show the importance of the topic.[5] Reza-e ‘Abbasi (circa 1565–1635) had an enormous impact on 17th-century artists. ‘Abbasi joined the royal court workshop in Qazvin in 1587 from Isfahan, and his innovative ideas opened new horizons in the creation of styles. His numerous students and followers imitated his style of drawing as well as his topics.

Indian drawings depicting a starving nag became popular in the early years of Jahangir’s rule.[6] From there, the topic could have been passed on to the Deccan. It seems that the meaning of this Chinese inspiration was interpreted in different ways. The “lean horse” was used in China as a symbol for resigned officers of an earlier dynasty. The ribs of the horse had to be countable to show how noble the bones were.[7] Starving horses also symbolize the transitory world in Sufism and are associated particularly with the decay of the body.[8] When they are shown with riders, they represent the soul, which has to be in control of the body.[9]

The use of the marbling technique for frames of the folios or margins of calligraphies and miniatures was prevalent in Iran and in the Ottoman Empire. Through travelling artists, the technique came into use in India as well. In the Deccan and especially in Bijapur, where the technique was perfected, marbling became popular and was used for complete images, as in this drawing.

The technique of marbling, abri in Persian (literally “design in water”), also became popular with Western collectors. The first Western mention of this technique was by Francis Bacon in Sylva Sylvarum (1627), in which he states that it was a technique commonly used by Turks.[10] This quotation made the technique and Ottoman artists famous in the Western world. Even in our own time, it is still known as the Turkish technique; however, according to F.R. Martin, the technique actually originated in Tabriz, and it was introduced from there to 16th-century Ottoman art. [11]

Marbling was introduced as well to Indian art,[12] and Tabrizian artists who followed the invitation of Humayun could have brought this technique to the Mughal realm. Yves Porter assumes that it was Mir Mohammad Taher, an Iranian illuminator, who went to India and introduced marbled paper. [13] In the Deccan this technique grew from being used for the frame or ground paper to being central to the drawing. This kind of drawing is a complete, unique illustration. Around 1625, marbled single-page drawings were in vogue in the Deccan, especially in Bijapur. [14] The Aga Khan Museum’s Permanent Collection has two astonishing examples of such Bijapur drawings (AKM196 and AKM908). They reveal not only the use of this technique, but also the complexity and diversity in the choice of topics.

— Filiz Çakır Phillip

Notes
1. Ernst Kühnel, “Arbeiten des Riza ‘Abbasi und Seiner Schule.” In Forschungen und Berichte 1 (1957): 123.
2. Stuart Cary Welch, Indian Drawings and Painted Sketches, 16th Through 19th Centuries (New York: Asia House Gallery, 1976), 74.
3. James C.Y. Watt, The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010), 182.
4. Topkapı Palace Museum Library, H.2153, 84a, 118b.
5. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, Inv. Nr. I.6958; Sheila Canby, The Rebellious Reformer: The Drawings and Paintings of Riza-yi Abbasi of Isfahan (London: Azimuth Editions, 1996), 48, 182, Cat. 18; Sarre and Mittwoch, tafel 39; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Acc. No. 45.174.11; Swietochowski and Babaie, 36–37.
6. See Welch, “Early Mughal Paintings from Two Private Collections Shown at the Fogg Art Museum,” Ars Orientalis 3 (1959): 141.
7. James C.Y. Watt, The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010), 182–83, 203–06.
8. Marie Lukens Swietochowski and Sussan Babaie, Persian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989), 36; Amina Okada, “Basawan.” In Master Artists of the Imperial Mughal Court, ed. Pratapaditya Pal (Mumbai: Marg Publications, 1991), 12.
9. Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1975), 112–13.
10. Mark Zebrowski, Deccani Painting (London: Sotheby Publications, 1983), 135.
11. F.R. Martin, The Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India, and Turkey from the 8th to the 18th Century (London: Quaritch, 1912; reprint London: Holland Press, 1968), 107; Zebrowski, 135.
12. Yves Porter, Painters, Paintings, and Books: An Essay on Indo-Persian Technical Literature, 12th–19th Centuries, trans. S. Butani (New Delhi: Manohar, Centre for Human Sciences, 1994), 45; F.R. Martin, The Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India, and Turkey from the 8th to the 18th century (London: Quaritch, 1912, reprint London: Holland Press, 1968), 107; Zebrowski, Deccani Painting, 135.
13. Porter, 45–46.
14. Porter, 49.

References
Canby, Sheila. The Rebellious Reformer: The Drawings and Paintings of Riza-yi Abbasi of Isfahan. London: Azimuth Editions, 1996.
Kühnel, Ernst. “Arbeiten des Riza ‘Abbasi und Seiner Schule.” In Forschungen und Berichte 1 (1957): 122–31. DOI: 10.2307/3880488
Martin, F.R. The Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India, and Turkey from the 8th to the 18th Century. London: Quaritch, 1912 (reprint, London: Holland Press, 1968). https://archive.org/details/gri_33125007047463
Okada, Amina. “Basawan.” In Master Artists of the Imperial Mughal Court, ed. Pratapaditya Pal, Mumbai: Marg Publications, 1991, 1–16. ISBN: 9788185026152
Phillip, Filiz Çakır. Enchanted lines: drawings from the Aga Khan Museum collection. 2014. ISBN: 9780991992874 
Porter, Yves. Painters, Paintings, and Books: An Essay on Indo-Persian Technical Literature, 12th–19th Centuries, trans. S. Butani. New Delhi: Manohar, Centre for Human Sciences, 1994. ISBN: 978-8173047503
Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975. ISBN: 978-0807899762
Swietochowski, Marie Lukens, and Sussan Babaie. Persian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. ISBN: 9780870995644
Watt, James C.Y. The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010. ISBN: 9781588394026
Welch, Stuart Cary. “Early Mughal Paintings from Two Private Collections Shown the Fogg Art Museum.” Ars Orientalis 3 (1959): 133–46. https://www.jstor.org/stable/i413373
---. Indian Drawings and Painted Sketches, 16th Through 19th Centuries. New York: Asia House Gallery, 1976.
Zebrowski, Mark. Deccani Painting. London: Sotheby Publications, 1983.