Gulshan Muraqqa’: An Imperial Discretion

Abstract

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on June 13, 2016Thesis advisor: Burton DunbarVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 77-81)Thesis (M.A.)--Department of Art and Art History. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016Title from PDF of title page, viewed on June 13, 2016Thesis advisor: Burton DunbarVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 77-81)Thesis (M.A.)--Department of Art and Art History. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016This thesis researches two folios (pages) from the Gulshan muraqqa’, an imperial album of the Mughal Empire. The two folios, The Poet and the Prince and A Buffalo Hunting a Lioness, are currently in the permanent collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Visual descriptions, focusing on style and subject matter, bring to light suppositions regarding artist attributions and a strong sufi connection thus far relatively unexplored and unrealized in relation to these paintings. Technical analyses of the folios are presented and analyzed within context. This investigation demonstrates the amalgamated presence of Indian, Persian, and European influences in these two folios as representative of the Gulshan muraqqa’. Calligraphy panels of the folios and border decorations contribute additional understanding of the sufi underpinning.College of Arts and SciencesIntroduction -- Visual description: the poet and the prince -- Visual description: a buffalo hunting and lioness -- Visual and technical analyses of the two folios -- Conclusionmonographi