Basawan

late 16th-century Mughal Indian artist

Basāwan, or Basāvan, was an Indian miniature painter in the Mughal style. He was known by his contemporaries as a skilled colorist and keen observer of human nature, and for his use of portraiture in the illustrations of Akbarnama, Mughal Emperor, Akbar's official Biography, which is seen as an innovation in Indian art.

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Basawan

Works

A Mughal and a Rajput Converse at Dusk

A feast for Babur hosted by his half-brother Jahangir Mirza in Ghazni in May 1505, from a Babur-nama (Memoirs of Babur)

A mendicant bowing before a holy man, from the Prince Salim Album

The Young Emperor Akbar Arrests the Insolent Shah Abu’l-Maali, page from a manuscript of the Akbarnama

Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page

Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page

The donkey, in a tiger’s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night

The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night

The hunter throws away the baby parrots, who pretend to be dead, and captures the mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night

Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring

Courtier Awaiting Akbar's Command

Akbar visits the tomb of Khwajah Mu'in ad-Din Chishti at Ajmer

Akbar's adventures with the elephant Hawa'i (V&A IS.2:22-1896)

The Virgin and Child

Jain Ascetic Walking Along a Riverbank

Majnun and the emaciated horse