Dust Muhammad

The Story Of Haftvad And The Worm, from the Shahnameh by Dust Muhammad, Aga Khan Museum, c. 1540, from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp

Dust Muhammad, also Dust Muhammad Musawwir or "Dust Muhammad the painter" (Persian: دوست محمد) was a Persian painter of miniatures, calligrapher, and art historian, active from about 1510 to 1564. Apparently a student of Bizhad, he may be best defined as an artist trained in the Timurid tradition, who further developed his style under the Safavids. Later in life he worked in Afghanistan and India, where he was called the "Mani of the Age" by Humayun. He is likely different from Dust Muhammad Haravi, who authored a preface to the Bahram Mirza Album in 1544.

Early career

Dust Muhammad was born in Herat in the late 15th century, although the date is not known. He was a disciple of Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād, working with teachers in Herat. Prince Bahram Mirza first spotted his talent and invited him to work in his studio. By early 1520 Muhammad moved with Behzad from Herat to Tabriz. After the death of Shah Ismail I, he remained in the service of Shah Tahmasp I, taking part in the illustration of the famous Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, however his contribution is much more modest than that of Sultan Mohammed or Mir Musavvir.

After the death of Behzad in 1535, Muhammad left Tahmasp's court. According to some researchers, he was a nomad and he could no longer sit in the same spot.

Kabul

Portrait of Humayun and his brothers, from life, by Dust Muhammad, c.1546, Kabul. Humayun's face was later damaged as it travelled to the India! Art and Culture exhibition in 1985.

In the late 1530s, he worked at the court of the ruler of Kabul, Kamran Mirza, brother of the Mughal emperor Humayun, who was in control of Kabul from 1540 to 1545 and 1547-49.

Dust Muhammad arrived at the Mughal court much earlier than other, younger Safavid artists such as Mir Sayyid ‘Ali and ‘Abdussamad, who arrived in 1549.

Paintings by Dust Muhammad for Humayun are known from around 1545, including the Allegory of the Celebrations for Akbar's Circumcision (1546). The interior of this piece is styled Turkmen Sultan Mohammed. Much of it takes the form of grotesque mountain elephants and other animals (especially loved by Shah Tahmasp). The emperor Humayun sits on a stone throne, and in the distance under the trees play three boys, one of whom is the future Emperor Akbar I.

As of 1552, Humayun, in a letter to Rashid Khan (the ruler of Kashgar), wrote that Dust Muhammad had “long been in [his] retinue” (nisbat-i qidam-i mulāzimat dārad, had been “longtime companion of the ruler”). Humayun was based in Kabul from 1545 and 1555, interrupted by Kamran in 1547-49. Humayun called him the "Mani of the Age" in the same letter.

India

Portrait of Shah Abu'l Ma‘ali by Dust Muhammad, c. 1556. He wears the Tāj-i 'Izzat headdress of Humayun. Aga Khan Collection

In 1555, and at the invitation of Emperor Humayun, he traveled to India. But Humayun died in 1556.

In the early 1560s, the court of the Mughal emperors was already under Emperor Akbar I, and Dust Muhammad left India and returned to Iran. He lived out his last days in Qazvin. The exact date of his death is unknown.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Parodi, Laura E.; Wannell, Bruce (2011). "The Earliest Datable Mughal Painting". www.asianart.com.
  2. ↑ Parodi, Laura E.; Wannell, Bruce (2011). "The Earliest Datable Mughal Painting". www.asianart.com.
  3. ↑ Weis, Friederike (1 January 2020). "How the Persian Qalam Caused the Chinese Brush to Break: The Bahram Mirza Album Revisited". Muqarnas: 64. doi:10.1163/22118993-00371P04. ...the king's brother Bahram mirza (1517–49), the owner of the eponymous album on which this essay focuses. According to Dust Muhammad b. Sulayman Haravi (fl. ca. 1511–64), the album's compiler and author of the preface,28 (...) Note 28. As has been made clear by Chahryar adle, Dūst Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān Haravī (fl. ca. 1511–64) is not to be confused with the contemporary painter Dūst Muḥammad Muṣavvir, also known as Dūst-i Divāna; see Chahryar adle, "Les artistes nommés Dust-Mohammad au xvie siècle", Studia Iranica 22 (1993): 219–96.
  4. ↑ Roxburgh, David J. (2001). Prefacing the Image: The Writing of Art History in Sixteenth-century Iran. BRILL. p. 28. ISBN 978-90-04-11376-3. Adle's argument is long and complex, and he identifies many more practitioners of art and calligraphy named Dust Muhammad, all of them active during the sixteenth century. After an extensive analysis of texts and materials, he focuses on the three main artistic per-sonalities in the group, Dust Muhammad b. Sulayman (Gavashani?) Haravi, Dust Muhammad b. 'Abd Allah, and Dust Divana/Dust Musavvir. Although some of his formulations are questionable, Adle's thesis that the album's compiler was Dust Muhammad b. Sulayman Haravi- who was a calligrapher but not a painter is convincing.
  5. ↑ Three Capitals of Islamic Art. Sakip Sabanci Müzesi. 2008. p. 40. ISBN 978-975-8362-80-6. Dust Muhammad, the painter, went to the Kabul court of Humayun's brother Kamran Mirza soon after 942 (1535-36).
  6. ↑ Branfoot 2018, p. 52 "He is here shown writing an inscription, which identifies him as Shah Abu’l Ma‘ali ‘kashgarı’, states he was once close to the late emperor (referred to by his posthumous name, Jannat Ashiyani, or He who Dwells in Paradise), and attributes the work to Master Dust the Painter (Ustad Dust-i Musawwir). The dating of this small, exquisite work is far from established but, despite the appearance of a Taj-i ‘Izzat, Humayun’s posthumous name points to after the emperor’s death"

Sources