{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O209612"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O209612/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GB0923/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GB0923/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GB0923","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB6669","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU2207","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O209612/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O209612","accessionNumber":"IM.271-1913","objectType":"Painting","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This is a detached folio from an illustrated manuscript commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556-1605). The manuscript was a translation into Persian, the language of the court and of the administration of the empire, of the memoirs of the emperor's grandfather, Babur. This Central Asian prince, descended from Amir Timur whose capital was at Samarkand, had founded what would become the Mughal empire by invading Hindustan and defeating the Sultan of Delhi in 1526. Akbar expanded Mughal territories enormously through vigorous military campaigns and territorial alliances. By the end of the sixteenth century the empire was secure, wealthy and well-governed. The emperor commissioned a history of his reign, and translations of texts that would assist his historian, Abul Fazl, in his work. A major project was the translation of Babur's memoirs that had been written in eastern Turki, a language that few at the Mughal court still knew. Akbar ordered the multi-lingual scholar Abdul Rahim, his Khan-i khanan, to do the work. The finished volume was presented to the emperor in AH998/1589 AD, and illustrated copies were made. \r\nThis folio is one of 17 in the V&A, all but one of which appeared on the London art market in 1913 from a manuscript that had already been broken up. The other, from the same manscript, was acquired in 1950. Although any colophon that may have been in the manuscript has been lost, it must have been completed soon after the translation was finished, and it is conventionally dated to about 1590.\r\nThis painting depicts an incident that took place in 1508, during the long period before Babur made his attack on Hindustan and was able to establish a permanent power base. He had reached the city of Kabul and set up encampment near a cemetary.","physicalDescription":"Painting, in watercolour on paper, <i>Baburnama</i> illustration, depicting the encampment before Kabul in 1507, before the attack on the rebels holding the city; in the background a Muslim cemetery and distant mountains.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"A partial inscription on the margin, a contemporary note made by a librarian, reads: 'Kashmiri'. Two other artists with this nisbah worked on pages now in the V&A: Yaqub Kashmiri and Isma'il Kashmiri. "}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"paper","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Painted in watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"War","id":"THES257202"},{"text":"Military","id":"THES250701"},{"text":"Manuscripts","id":"THES48922"},{"text":"Bonita Trust Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project","id":"THES263148"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2013GB0923","2009CB6669","2017JU2207"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES403520"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"painting","id":"AAT33618"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mughal Empire","id":"THES262021"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1590","earliest":"1585-01-01","latest":"1594-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Messrs luzac & Co., 46 Great Russell Street","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"S.A.A Rizvi, in Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims in Akbar's Reign (Delhi, 1975, 220-221), notes:\r\nThe Babur Nama, in Chaghta'i Turkish, a mine of information relating to Central Asia, Kabul and India, was of an absorbing interest for the Indian Timurids. The portions relating to the Indian period of Babur's autobiography had already been translated by his sadr, Zainu'd Din Khwafi, into Persian. In 994/1584 Mirza Payandah Hasan Ghaznavi commenced its translation at the insistence of Bihruz Khan (who was afterwards given the title of Naurang Khan by Akbar and died as a governor of Junahgarh in 1002/1593-94), but he could not translate the account beyond the first sixth and a part of the seventh year. Subsequently one Muhammad Quli Mughal HIsari continued the work and brought it down to 935/1528-29. Akbar ordered Mirza 'Abdu'r Rahim Khan-i Khanan to translate it again and he completed the work in 998/1589. He presented his translation to the Emperor as he was returning from Kabul on 24 November 1589. The Khan-i Khanan excelled all the previous translators.\n\nPurchased from Messrs luzac &amp; Co., 46 Great Russell Street. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Museum records (Asia Department registers and/or Central Inventory) as part of a 2023 provenance research project.\r\n\r\nRP 1912-6290M","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting, <i>Baburnama</i> illustration, encampment before Kabul in 1507, watercolour on paper, Mughal, ca. 1590","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"STRONGE, Susan. <u>Painting for the Mughal Emperor: The Art of the Book 1560 – 1660</u> London : V&A Publications, 2002. 192p, ill. ISBN 1 85177 358 4.","id":"AUTH326134"},"details":"p. 87, pl. 56","free":"The incident depicted in the text is described in Wheeler M. Thackston's English translation: The Baburnama. Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. Translated, edited and annotated by Wheeler M. Thackston, Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 245."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"The encampment before Kabul in 1507, before the attack on the rebels holding the city.","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Kabul","id":"x35605"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"tents","id":"AAT5694"},{"text":"equestrians","id":"AAT188602"},{"text":"mountains","id":"AAT8795"},{"text":"city","id":"AAT8389"},{"text":"cemetery","id":"AAT360"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IM.271-1913"],"accessionNumberNum":"271","accessionNumberPrefix":"IM","accessionYear":1913,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","verso"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-20","recordCreationDate":"2009-03-26","availableToBook":true}}