Umar Comes to Look for the Corpse of Mihr-Nigar, Illustrated folio of the Hamzanama

This folio comes from an imperial Mughal album illustrating the adventures of Hamza (known as the Hamzanama) which tells the story of Amir Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. The story itself is a fanciful blend of both history and local legend, reflecting a popular collection of action filled stories that come from the Persian tradition of oral literature. However, this Hamzanama is unique in its production: is it the largest manuscript of Persian poetry ever produced (each folio measures nearly six feet in height); and the only one known to have been painted on cloth. It is also one of the first major commissions made by the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 963-1014 AH/1556-1605 CE), which - according to his official court chronicles - was done between 971 AH/1564 CE and 981 AH/1573 CE. Several imminent Persian artists were known to have worked on this manuscript, including ‘Abd al-Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali, both of whom left the imperial painting ateliers of the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp (919- 982 AH/1514-76 CE). This particular folio has been attributed to the esteemed court painter Shravana, who was active between 972-1009 AH/1565-1600 CE. In this painting ‘Umar, Hamza’s friend, is looking at the corpse of Mihr-Nigar, the daughter of Anoushirvan (King of Persia) who is betrothed to Hamza; she unfortunately died before the marriage occurred. The reverse is decorated with lines of Persian text written in black nastaliq. The Hamzanama manuscript originally comprised some 1400 folios, of which about 200 are extant, with this folio placed in volume 6 of the original commission.