A Deccan Odyssey

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York showcases the biggest-ever collection of Indo-Islamic art.

A Parrot Perched on a Mango Tree.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Deccan plateau was home to several Muslim kingdoms, with a rich artistic heritage. Under their patronage, foreign influences — from Iran, Turkey, eastern Africa and Europe — combined with prevailing Indian traditions, and gave birth to a distinctive Indo-Islamic art and culture. Now, an exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum, called “Sultans of Deccan India, 1500 – 1700: Opulence and Fantasy” will bring together 200 of the finest works from this era, sourced from private and royal collections from around the world.

Featuring many remarkable loans from India, the exhibition, arguably the most comprehensive museum presentation on the subject to date, will explore classical Deccani art through paintings, metalwork and textiles. It will focus chiefly on the courtly art of the kingdoms of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Bidar and Golconda. A watercolour and gold-on-paper work, titled A Parrot Perched on a Mango Tree, created in 1670, has been sourced from Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Art, Hyderabad. Attributed to Bombay painter Abdul Hamid Naqqash, there is a rare watercolour, gold and lapis lazuli pigment on paper, titled Sultan Ali Adil Shah II Shooting an Arrow at a Tiger, done in 1660 in Bijapur. This has been lent by 82-year-old British painter Howard Hodgkin. Besides, there are paintings by the leading court artist, Farrukh Husain, which will demonstrate the refined style that influenced much of Deccani art.

The highlight are the largest-known diamonds, which originated in the mines of Deccan. Interestingly, before the diamond was discovered in Brazil and Africa in the 18th century, India was the sole source of these precious gems.

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Among the treasures from Golconda, whose diamond mines produced the legendary Kohinoor, is a group of gems from international royal collections, including the “Idol’s Eye” and “Agra” diamonds. Also on display is a 17th century “Shah Jahan diamond”, which weighs 56.72 carat.

Besides, there are painted and printed textiles, some of which are even nine-feet-high. These will be shown alongside objects made of in-laid and gilded metal, precious jewels, carved wood and stone. Several pieces of bidri metalwork will also be shown.

Navina Najat Haidar, Curator of Department of Islamic Art at the MET Museum, who has organised the exhibition, says, “This huge showcase has taken about a dozen years in the making, off and on. The idea was actually proposed by Daniel Walker, who was the head of Islamic Art Department at MET, when I started working here in the early 2000s. The Deccan was a point of connection for the world, for its flow of ideas and art. The paintings are of astonishing beauty, the gemstones are brilliant, the metalwork is of the highest quality, and the textiles are rare and fragile and lovely. An exhibition of this sort has never been done before.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, which features work by Antonio Martinelli, veteran photographer of Indian art and architecture.

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Last year, the MET held a three-month India-centric exhibition of over 60 jewelled objects from the private collection of Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani, which offered a glimpse into the evolving styles of the jewelled arts in India, from the Mughal period to the present day. Next up is an exhibition of Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi’s work, known for her line art, which is being organised by the MET’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.

The exhibition is from April 20 to July 26. Visit http://www.metmuseum.org/deccansultans

Divya A

Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More

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