The Deccani Schools of Painting (Some Famous Paintings)

Introduction

The colors of The Deccani School Painting are rich, brilliant, and quite different from the other northern indian paintings. Moreover, during the treatment of landscape costumes, ethnic types, jewellery, flora, and fauna, many unique features of The Deccani Schools of Painting were witnessed in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Like this, there are a number of historical facts related to The Deccani Schools of Painting. Want to know more such interesting facts? Great!

 So, Let’s Move Right into The Depth!

The Deccani School of Painting

The Deccani School of Painting is from the famous Deccan School which was developed during the 16th and 17th centuries. While in the initial stage, the growth was mainly in Bijapur, Ahmednagar, and Golconda centers.  

However, there was no Mughal influence during the initial Deccan School development, but later in the 17th and 18th centuries, they came under their influence.

Further, the Deccani Schools of Painting in its early stage got influenced by the northern tradition of the pre-Mughal painting of Malwa. Not just Malwa, but they were also influenced by the Vijayanagar school of painting.

Compared to other schools of painting, it’s quite easier to create the history of Deccani schools of Painting from the late sixteenth century until the 1680s.

Deccani style of Painting Insight:

The style of Deccani Painting was considered Safavid, Turkish, Middle Eastern, Persian, and in the origin Mughal too. 

The Deccani Schools of Painting were largely placed under Indo-Persian art for a long time to highlight the Persian influence.

In the Hindu courts of Rājasthān and central India, the Deccani art showed its effect on the development of miniature paintings. Deccani schools of painting are highly acknowledged for their uniqueness by art historians, but on the other hand, they failed to be recognized for a long time as full-fledged.

The Deccani schools of painting have a pure and highly-sensitive blend of foreign and indigenous art forms.

Some Famous Paintings:

The Deccani schools of painting gave some wonderful masterpieces, which in later study elaborated the in-depth message embedded.

Some of the most popular painting from the Deccani painting school is mentioned below with the message they conveyed-

Composite Horse:

The famous painting elaborates on the early 17th century from the Golconda region.

In this painting, you can see Flying cranes and lions, Chinese clouds, and plants with large leaves which enhance the surreal element.

The horse here is a composite figure of many animals embedded.

Ragini Pathamsika of Raga Hindola:

In this painting, the surface of two domes has an arabesque decoration representing the Persian influence. Elephant and a woman can be seen outside the pavilion showing honor to the two beautifully dressed and bejeweled women who are in the pavilion.

The overall painting looks beautiful and even the colors are vibrant here. But from all these colors Red is dominant and is complimented by green to give an eye-catching effect.

 Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II Hawking:

In this painting, you can see the Persian influence riding a horse and holding a swan bird in his hand.  The  Persian influence in this painting is shown doing treatment of the horse and rocks.

Everywhere around in this painting, you can see plants and dense landscapes which not just represent the early stage but have a native inspiration. You can see the Limbs and tail of the horse are painted red in color, probably because they are the most prominent parts of a horse’s body.

 Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah:

This painting was made as an honor to Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah. Qutb Shah was an able ruler of Bijapur, the Deccani state. 

In his painting, you can see him holding his sword in one hand. A sword in hand symbolizes political sovereignty.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusrau:

One of the most famous paintings of all time shows Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and his love of music. Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya was the revered Sufi saint of the thirteenth century.

When you see this painting for the first time you witness the respect Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya has towards music. He is sitting calmly and listening to music being played by his disciple, Hazrat Amir Khusrau.

According to art historians, this Painting is naive and basic. Also, the painting is without the technical and artistic sophistication of a court painting.

Chand Bibi Playing Polo:

Polo was among the most popular sports during the 15th century.  In this painting you can see Chand Bibi, the Queen of Bijapur, playing Polo (Chaugan) with other princesses of the sultanate.

This painting also highlights the state of living after Chand Bibi resisted the Mughal political attempts. The attempts were made to overtake the state by Emperor Akbar.

The painting catches the eye first with the color used. Princesses in this painting are mounted on horses of different colors: white, dark brown, blue, and pale yellow, also beautifully decorated.

CONCLUSION 

Conclusively, the Deccani School of Painting is a branch of the well-known Deccan School, which flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries. Initially, the art was centred on Bijapur, Ahmednagar, and Golconda. In this context, we looked into some of the famous paintings such as Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II Hawking, Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah, Composite horse and so on.