{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O66618"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O66618/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC2152/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC2152/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BC2152","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BC2151","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O66618/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O66618","accessionNumber":"IS.1514-1883","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Umar searches for Hamza","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The <i>Hamzanama</i>, or 'Book of Hamza' was commissioned by the great Mughal emperor Akbar in the mid-16th century. The epic story of a character based very loosely on the life of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad chronicles the fantastic adventures of Hamza as he and his band of heroes fight against the enemies of Islam. The stories, from a long-established oral tradition, were written down in Persian, the language of the court, in multiple volumes. These originally had 1400 illustrations, of which fewer than 200 survive today. No independent, contemporary version of the text is known, making it difficult to follow the complicated stories from the residual text preserved on the back of each folio. Work on the volumes probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete.\r\nHere, Hamza's faithful servant Umar searches for the missing hero, comes across a house in which Hamza and some of his companions have been detained. He gains entrance by disguising himself as a beggar, beats the guards with an ass's leg and rescues them.","physicalDescription":"A fight between Umar wielding a donkey's foot and lower leg and the guards of a house occupies the foreground of a composition depicting the dwelling within a walled enclosure. Tiger skins and trophies made up of shields and swords hang on the outer walls. Within the doorway of the house are three figures, one of which is presumably Hamza. Two women are seen in the windows of a structure outside the walls at lower right.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"cotton","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"gouache on prepared cotton backed with paper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"}],"styles":[{"text":"Mughal court","id":"x30977"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006BC2152","2006BC2151"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES406556"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1562-1577","earliest":"1557-01-01","latest":"1577-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"66.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"51.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Painting number 23, text number 24."}],"objectHistory":"bought for the museum by Caspar Purdon Clarke in Srinagar in 1881.","historicalContext":"The 'Hamzanama' was the first major project undertaken by the new painting studio of the Mughal court. Directed by two Iranian masters brought to India by Humayun, work began under Akbar and was said to have taken fifteen years to complete, drawing from artists from all over northern Hindustan.","briefDescription":"In search of Hamza, Umar arrives at a house where prisoners are being beaten with the foot of a donkey; Umar sets his friends free and finds Hamza. Hamzanama. 1562-77","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Seyller, John. The Adventures of Hamza. Smithsonian Institution. 2002, cat. R148, pp. 274-175."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gluck, 1925, fig. 33."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Susan Stronge, Painting for the Mughal Emperor, V&A Publications, 2002, detail pl. 16, p. 32."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Caspar Stanley Clarke, 1921, pl. 8."},{"reference":{"text":"C. Stanley Clarke; Twelve Mogul Paintings of the School of Humaym (16th century) illustrating the Romance of Amir Hamzah, H.M.S.O. 1921","id":"AUTH348471"},"details":"pl. 8","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IS.1514-1883"],"accessionNumberNum":"1514","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1883,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-06","recordCreationDate":"2002-07-08","availableToBook":false}}