HYDERABAD: In this weekly section, we look at various elements drawn from the history and heritage of Hyderabad, the city’s interconnections with other places and historical events and art and artefacts that hold imprints of the past
Within the compound of Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy State Museum in Public Gardens stands a beautifully designed post-modern building housing the Islamic Arts Gallery. On the first floor of this museum is an exquisite collection of manuscripts, portraits and miniatures apart from a large collection of paintings by the famous artist Abdul Rahman Chughtai.
The first floor is divided into three parts, one displays the work of Chughtai, the central part displays manuscripts ranging from the 11th to 18th century as well as miniature paintings on ivory plates and the third part has a collection of paintings from the 15th to 19th century, owing to Mughal, Golconda and Ragmala schools of paintings.
In the central display, housing some interesting manuscripts and miniatures, there is a Quran scribed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir during his Deccan sojourns. Another one scribed by his brother, Dara Shikoh and yet another from his library have been put on display. There is also a beautiful collection of miniature ivory paintings, similar to a passport-sized photograph but hand-painted with great detail. There are portraits of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, Nur Jahan, Aurangzeb and other Mughal emperors.
The most fascinating object in this display is an oval ivory box with paintings of all eight Qutb Shahi sultans on its sides in oval frames – perhaps the only such artefact on display.
These were made in Hyderabad during the 19th century. Similarly, a folio from an illustrated manuscript is on display in the paintings gallery, which depicts all the Qutb Shahi sultans in a single frame.
The painting shows the first king, Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk ‘Bare Malik’ seated on a throne and his descendants standing and seated on either side of the throne.
The painting appears to have been produced in Golconda during the period of Abul Hasan Qutb Shah towards the end of the 17th century, again, perhaps the only such copy on display in India.
Text and pics by: Md Sibghatullah Khan, The Deccan Archive