David Geffen Galleries/Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Location History:
From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase
Painted around 1586–87 by the imperial atelier master **Dharm Das**, this seminal folio from the Victoria & Albert *Akbarnama* captures the dramatic climax of Emperor Humayun’s 1535 campaign in Gujarat: the taking of the Fort of Cambay and the ignominious flight of Sultan Bahadur Shah.
Dharm Das constructs a dynamic multi-tiered composition, balancing raw historical chaos with meticulous Mughal discipline. Opaque watercolor and refined ink washes dominate the surface, framed by elegant Persian Nastaʻliq script. At the lower right, Humayun commands attention in brilliant gold chain-mail armor and a feathered turban, his posture projecting stoic, imperial authority amid the thunder of war drums. Beneath him, a tightly arrayed column of cavalry and camel-mounted warriors marches in rhythmic symmetry—their vivid tunics of rich vermilion, lapis lazuli, and warm ochre anchoring the lower register with structural stability.
In stark visual counterpoint, the upper canvas erupts into turbulence. Swirling billows of charcoal smoke and fiery orange glazes envelope the besieged fortress, visually rendering Humayun’s decree to extinguish the flames while capturing the frantic retreat of Bahadur Shah. Dharm Das’s line work is extraordinarily sharp; delicate, calligraphic brushstrokes outline individual expressions of panic, intricate textile patterns, and architectural masonry. The palette brilliantly juxtaposes jewel-toned pigments—mined from mineral lapis, malachite, and lead-tin yellow—against darker, smoky neutrals to elevate the narrative stakes.
Blending Persian spatial layering with a distinctly Indian narrative vitality, this masterwork transcends mere historical documentation. It stands as a triumph of early Mughal manuscript painting, immortalizing imperial clemency and martial conquest in a single, breathless visual space.
The painting presents military conquest not as a distant historical event but as a densely packed spectacle of movement, violence and imperial authority. Humayun’s controlled position contrasts with the chaos surrounding the burning fortress and the fleeing Sultan Bahadur Shah. The careful organisation of soldiers, animals, architecture and text transforms warfare into a visual statement of Mughal power. At the same time, the frightened figures and destructive flames make the human cost of conquest impossible to ignore. I find the tension between imperial order and the disorder produced by war to be the most striking aspect of the work.
