Hamzanama

1562-1577

Painting, gouache on cotton, depicting Hamza, killed in battle at Mount Uhud, is beheaded and mutilated, illustration from the epic romance the Hamzanama. Within an enclosure, surrounded by embroidered screens, is seated on the throne a bearded man dressed in a green and gold robe and turban, behind whom are other bearded men, one of whom offers a white scarf to the seated man. Before him, another man of high rank presents a young woman clad in a flowered blue choli who is partially concealed by a screen. In the upper part of the picture is a cave in which lies the decapitated body of a man dressed in an orange robe with a katar (dagger) thrust into his white girdle. Around him are the disorderly remains of a feast. To the left are the same man and woman, seen lower down in the enclosure. In the background are rocks and trees. On the reverse side is a page of manuscript in black ink on coarse paper splashed with traces of gold. Hamza was a character based partly on a historical Iranian insurrectionary leader from Sistan, and was also identified with the uncle of the Prophet Muhammed.