This piece in the Indian Museum of Kolkata is part of the digital collection of the Museums of India online... which is a decent resource. Somehow there aren't as many images as I would like to see... I suspect British Imperialism has much to do with the fact that there are far more Mughal illuminations held in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
But this small painting is of interest. It's presented as a Nama-style page, but the artwork -- it seems like the figures are larger than that of other pages, particularly because there's just the one level of figures rather than the stacks of people on different levels. The page is blue with gold overlay, while the border of the illumination is the traditional cream.
Here, there are several figures, particularly female figures, to study. The description:
Humayun seated on throne enjoying music and dance with young Akbar along with attendants. This painting is registered as a Persian painting, but it is Mughal painting and might be a folio from Akbar-nama.
Each of the female figures within draws particular interest.
Right off the bat, I do need to apologize for resolution - unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an adequate way to request a full size download. These are all screen captures.
The first of the six ladies across the bottom is eating the world's longest, straightest stick of licorice. I kid. I have no idea if she's trying to play an instrument, eating something or if the artist simply did not finish whatever this woman was supposed to be doing. There are several elements of interest to me here. She is wearing a long scarf that is white with red - but of course at this size it's hard to determine if this is embroidered or printed. There are bracelets that may include bells at the wrists, and those bottle-like string-borne containers at the neck (
as I previously noted here). She appears to be wearing a veil UNDER and behind her hat - or, perhaps, has wrapped her hair. Her slant-topped hat is dark green, and there appears to be a gem or piece of jewelry at its top center.
Her dark hair peeks out from below the cloth secured under her hat, and what might be a jewelled loop dangles from the hat's center front. There is no sign of a band or veil holding the hat into place.
She wears something green over something orange - whether the outer layer is one of the open-front dresses, a del or a jama-type del is left undetermined. She is apparently a musician, but she wears the hat of the Mughals.
The second of the women - the dancer in red - is in what appears to be a very impossible position, though it may just be a sign that she's a very skilled dancer. She is clearly wearing pants - which indicates she may be an entertainer of some sort - along with an open-front dress over an undershift.
I have to start at the top on this one. LOOK AT HER PLUME.
Unlike many other plumes illuminated in period, this one is fat, wide and austentatious. At first, before I zoomed in on it, I wasn't certain what I was looking at - because the black was along the line of the background. But on closer inspection, WOW. I still can't tell if this is a feather plume for certain or if it's of some other material, but the base is a piece of jewelry, some sort of brooch that's on the front of the hat. The hat itself is decorated, either an embroidered pattern on the fabric that covers it or additional pieces of jewelry. I am leaning towards the former - the blue streak doesn't seem very jewelry-like, and the red flowers disappear behind the edge of the overveil. There appear to be two separate pieces of cloth here - one under the hat, and one from the back. One is striped while the other appears to be printed with a floral or round motif. Once again, there appears to be a loop of jewelry at the front.
This hat excites me. Could the piece of fabric on the bottom of the hat actually be part of the hat?
The method of the medium leaves me with more questions, though, particularly about the scarves. Most of the images I've seen of the women dancing has just the one scarf that's wrapped loosely around the body and left to fly as the dancers swirl. This woman has two such scarves - or are they separate scarves. The one that passes between her breasts is striped like the overveil that hangs from her hat. The depiction includes a slight change of color both on and over the back of the dancer on the painting. We've seen in other illuminations a very thin muslin or silk "disposable." single-wear outer garment - could this be a voluminous, transparent but edged overveil over her? It's different from the second scarf, with a scalloped edge. But what is this?
The golden line that falls at the edge of the posterior then crosses over and behind her raised foot - could very well be a full transparent veil with an edge.
Let's start with the third woman in the golden overdress. What's she holding in her hands? They appear to be pairs of sticks, but I haven't been able to find any sort of musical instruments that they replicate. And I'm uncertain what else their purpose might be.
She has the ties or bells at her wrists, and she wears the slant-topped boqta hat. Her overveil, which I am guessing goes down the back of her outfit, is a bright orange. Her hat is brightly striped with what may be a smaller jewel at the front bottom, with no plume. Her plaid-like scarf floats around her. There's no scarf or veil under the hat, and her curly hair floats around her face.
Unlike most of the other outfits I have seen like this, the overdress here does not reach the bottom. Add in a couple of other elements, and I believe we may be looking at a deel. The bottom is pointed, which could be a very late period men's jama style. But there's also the dress itself. It's gold, but there are splotches of orange that don't make any sort of pattern or sense. I'm wondering if the top layer of the original illumination is missing - if that's the case, any marks on top of a gold or applied color that might have flaked off would have been lost - which would have included the top to bottom crease that would have gone off at a diagonal to the corner.
Her full underdress barely shows some bright orange pants.
The fourth woman, the drummer in pink, has a completely different hat, a rounded hat that may or may not have a small peak at the top. The bottom of her hat has either a brass circlet or coronet of some sort or a golden scarf... it's impossible to tell. Her open front dress has nothing underneath, and has either tight tiny stripes or a woven stripe pattern. The angle of her arms prevents an evaluation of what sort of overgarment she's wearing, whether it's a gathered overdress or a jama-style deel, and of course the bottom of the image doesn't reveal its lower hem.
The fifth woman is wearing an identical hat to the third woman with its bold stripes. The overveil again is orange - but this time, there are orange scarf ends floating around her. She is clearly wearing a Mughal coat over her underdress, a gold coat with either black lining or an edging in black. The purple underdress goes all the way to the wrist.
The sixth woman, with the shenhai, is also wearing a Mughal coat - I think it's the first black example I've seen. Her hat is pink, but I can't tell if her veil is pink and over the whole thing or white... there's not much of her to consider here.
Other thoughts on this illumination:
Could the things I'm seeing at the wrist be straps at the end of the sleeves instead of bracelets? Could they be bells? Without extant examples of the clothing, there may never be an answer to this question.
These shoes:
We don't see shoes on the women, but we do see this boy and these men. The boy on the left appears to be wearing purple slippers. The man on the right has what could be covered-toe sandals - because of deterioration of the scroll it's hard to determine if they're just jewelled slip-ins or curled toe shoes.
The man in the center, though, is clearly wearing heeled boots that have been decorated. It's stunning and incredibly clear.
Once again, this is an illumination most likely conscripted to an artist by Akbar, Humayun's son. The attire may be period to Humayun or it may be contemporary to the artist whom Akbar gave the assignment. My hope is that there will be at some point in the future some recovered items of clothing that could be dated to the early Mughal period that could confirm or dismiss my assumptions about Mughal clothing of the error.
