{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O66747"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O66747/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP4897/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP4897/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AP4897","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AD0804","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O66747/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O66747","accessionNumber":"IS.1516-1883","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Zumrud Shah falls into a pit and is beaten by gardeners","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. Work probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete.\r\n\r\nThis particular illustration shows the giant Zumrud Shah, Hamza's enemy, who has fallen into a well in a garden. The gardeners suspect him of having stolen fruit from their trees and beat him around the head with their spades while the real culprits, a family of bears, frolic in the foreground.","physicalDescription":"The giant Zumrud Shah has fallen into a well in a garden and is being beaten with sticks by five gardeners. In the foreground, a family of bears frolic beneath a tree; in the background are trees and vines.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"water colour","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"cotton (textile)","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Opaque watercolour on prepared cotton backed with paper; Persian text on reverse written on paper backed with cotton; the four layers glued together","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"}],"styles":[{"text":"Mughal","id":"AAT18939"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AP4897","2006AD0804"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES403674"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"India","id":"x29790"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"},{"place":{"text":"Pakistan","id":"x30015"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"}],"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":"68.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"painting","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"54.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"painting","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"15 (painting)\r\n16 (text)","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Illustration to the epic romance, the Hamzanama, ca.1562-1577 commissioned by Akbar. 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 Hindustan by the emperor Humayun, work began under his son, Akbar, and took fifteen years to complete.","briefDescription":"Zumrud Shah falls into a pit and is beaten by suspicious gardeners. Hamzanama. ca.1562-77.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Barnard, Nick: Arts of Asia, vol. 45, no. 5, September - October 2015, \"The Parasol Foundation Trust Programme: digitising and cataloguing the V&A's South Asian collection.\", p.104, pl. 15.\r\n\r\nAsok Kumar Das, Wonders of Nature. Ustad Mansur at the Mughal Court, Marg Publications, Mumbai 2021. See fig. I.1, p. 14 (detail)."},{"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. 35, pl. 21","free":""},{"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. 12","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Irwin, John, C., A Brief Guide to Indian Art, H.M.S.O. 1962","id":"AUTH348473"},"details":"fig. 11","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Irwin, John; Indian Art: Victoria & Albert Museum departmental guide, H.M.S.O. ISBN 0 905209117, 1978","id":"AUTH348999"},"details":"fig. 11, p. 11","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Seyller, John W. & Koch, Ebba, <i>The Adventures of Hamza: Painting and Storytelling in Mughal India</i>, Smithsonian Institution, 2002","id":"AUTH353370"},"details":"pp.100-101","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"giant","id":"x38125"},{"text":"bears","id":"x29380"},{"text":"garden","id":"AAT8090"},{"text":"well","id":"AAT152327"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IS.1516-1883"],"accessionNumberNum":"1516","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1883,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-26","recordCreationDate":"2002-07-19","availableToBook":false}}