Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Phd.Student, Department of Analytical and Comparative Studies of Islamic Art, Faculty of Art, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.
2
, professor, Department of Visual Communication and Photography, Faculty of Art, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran, Corresponding Author.
3
Assistant Professor, Department of Art Research, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
The period of Mughal Emperor Akbar (16th century) is considered one of the most flourishing historical periods of India, which witnessed the creation of numerous literary-historical manuscripts. Court artists created many paintings by adapting Iranian works of art. Among these art works, we can mention two different illustrated versions of Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh (Compendium of chronicles), which are the result of this period. One of the illustrated images of these two manuscripts is on the subject of "Birth of Ghazan Khan" and has a pretext from the Timurid period.
The purpose of present research is to study the relationship between above art works and the “Ghazan Khan's birth scene” painting (Hypertext) in Paris Jame al-Tawarikh (Timurid period) and tries to find answer to these questions: How is the form of adapting relationships explained in the examined paintings? What changes have been made in the process of adapting these art works from the Paris image?
This study is done in descriptive-analytical method and hyper-textual approach. Information has been achieved from textual library sources, specialist articles in credible scientific and information databases, as well as some field resources. The conclusion of this study shows that the relationship between the hypotext and the hypertext is diachronic and cross-cultural, and the later texts, both the Rampur painting and the Worcester Museum version, were created with changes and trans-textuality in the pretext.
Gérard Genet's theories have been used to compare the two mentioned images. Both of images were depicted in emperor Akbar’s royal atelier (1004 and 1005AH/ 1596 and 1597 CE). The images are depicted by inspiration and adaptation of the "Birth of Ghazan Khan” painting in the Paris Jami-al-Tawarikh.
The common feature of mentioned paintings is the written-verbal pretext of the Jami-al-Tawarikh context as well as the pictorial pretext of the Paris version. In this process, the differences and similarities, the way of interactions and the level of derivation of these two works from the painting "Birth of Ghazan Khan" in the Paris version, have been discussed and the innovations of Mughal artists have been examined and analyzed separately.
The current research includes the texts that were created based on the relationship of derivation from other texts. This means that the influence of the type of derivation of one text from another text and not necessarily its presence is investigated. In the topic of Palimpsests, Genette has expressed his opinion that any relationship that connects the second text to the pretext forms a polytextual relationship.
In this case, the second text is completely derived from the first text. If the first text does not exist, the existence of the second text becomes impossible. This article studies the intertextual relationships between two "Birth of Ghazan Khan" paintings belonging to the illustrated version of Rampur and "Birth of Ghazan Khan" preserved in the Worcester Museum, which were depicted in the period of emperor Akbar Shah. Also, their creation being inspired by and adapted from a painting with the same theme (depicted in the Ilkhani period) will be analyzed.
All three images (hypertexts and pretexts) are depicted based on a historical written text. The Rampur painting was illustrated by an unknown artist, and the Worcester museum painting was illustrated in a group by artists such as Basavan, Bhim Gujarati and Dharmdas.
This study's findings reveal that Emperor Akbar’s royal painting workshop artists have created the subjects of this study, according to the written and visual pretext of the painting of the Paris Jami-al-Tawarikh of the Timurid period.
This pretext has the aesthetic system and structural features of painting of the Timurid period, which is rooted in Iranian-Islamic culture. Despite the fact that Mughal period was considered an Islamic territory, but due to its different cultural background, it had many cultural differences with Iran in that era. Therefore, Emperor Akbar and his royal atelier painters were interested in Persian painting and literature.
Hence, the artist of the Rampur painting (the first hypertext) created his work based on the Paris painting and adapted from it. The importance of this is due to the fact that in the hyper-textual relations and derivation, a kind of cultural and artistic transfer has also taken place, which is from Iran to Mughal territory. Due to the subject of this painting and its narration which is about birth events and the life of Ghazan Khan, aggrandize the importance of its illustration and addressing the scene of his birth has also increased its importance. So it can be considered a reason for derivation from pretext painting.
The analysis of hyper-textual relationships presented in this article shows that despite the relationship between diachronic and intercultural perspective, the influence of para-textual factors (differences in the background and cultural context), in the first hyper-textual (Rampur version painting) compared to the second hyper-textual (Worcester Museum painting) has been encountered, with small differences by the way of adaptation and borrowing from the original text (painting of the Paris edition).
The reason for this can be found in several factors. It seems that since the Rampur version was taken from Iran to India, the Mughal painters somehow wanted to create harmony with the other images of the Rampur version in the illustration of "Birth of Ghazan Khan". Therefore, they have applied less transformations and changes. But in the second hypertext (Worcester painting) which is illustrated after the Rampur version, Basavan and his fellow artists have preferred to create a completely independent art work of the Rampur painting in a new style and fully compatible with the Mughal culture. Therefore, these changes and transformations, which show the metamorphosis of pretexts, are mostly based on structural features (cultural, narrative, temporal, environmental changes). Also, internal changes include removal, increase and transposition.
This has caused both a change in the structure and a stylistic evolution compared to the pretext (Paris painting). In fact, Mughal artists have created art works that transformed the formal structure and written content of the pretexts to a certain extent by creating various variations and changes by changing the style and visual elements. They have been able to create a new art work which represents and reflects the cultural conditions and the art of that era.
Keywords
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