 | |
| Author | Daswanth |
|---|---|
| Country | Mughal |
| Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna | |
Umar Defeats a Dragon is a page from a Mughal Illuminated manuscript illustrating an episode from the Hamzanama. The page size is 55 x 70 cm. It is in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Vienna.
The manuscript is credited to Daswanth. The illuminated manuscript shows Umar fighting a dragon from the Hamzanama manuscript, from the Mughal dynasty. [1]
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders (marginalia), and miniature illustrations. In the strictest definition, the term refers only to manuscripts decorated with either gold or silver; but in both common usage and modern scholarship, the term refers to any decorated or illustrated manuscript from Western traditions. Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted. Islamic manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated, or painted, though using essentially the same techniques as Western works.
The Hamzanama or Dastan-e-Amir Hamza narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad. Most of the stories are extremely fanciful, "a continuous series of romantic interludes, threatening events, narrow escapes, and violent acts". The Hamzanama chronicles the fantastic adventures of Hamza as he and his band of heroes fight against the enemies of Islam.
The word miniature, derived from the Latin verb miniare indicates a small illustration used to decorate an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript; the simple illustrations of the early codices having been miniated or delineated with that pigment. The generally small scale of such medieval pictures has led to etymological confusion with minuteness and to its application to small paintings, especially portrait miniatures, which did however grow from the same tradition and at least initially used similar techniques.
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