id: 148833 accession number: 1976.74 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.74 updated: 2022-09-10 10:50:18.412000 Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza), c. 1560s–70s. Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on cotton and paper; page: 83.7 x 67 cm (32 15/16 x 26 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of George P. Bickford 1976.74 title: Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1560s–70s creation date earliest: 1555 creation date latest: 1585 current location: creditline: Gift of George P. Bickford copyright: --- culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on cotton and paper department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Page: 83.7 x 67 cm (32 15/16 x 26 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review, 1976 opening date: 1977-02-01T05:00:00 Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977). title: The Year in Review for 1982 opening date: 1983-01-05T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983). title: The Adventures of Hamza opening date: 2002-06-21T00:00:00 The Adventures of Hamza. Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC (organizer) (June 21-September 29, 2002); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (November 1, 2002-January 26, 2003). title: Art and Stories from Mughal India opening date: 2016-07-31T04:00:00 Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016). title: Martial Art of India (Indian Painting rotation) opening date: 2022-02-11T05:00:00 Martial Art of India (Indian Painting rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 11-August 21, 2022). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245); December 31, 2013 - June 30, 2014. --- PROVENANCE Tabbagh date: footnotes: citations: George Bickford [1901–1991] and Clara Louise Gehring Bickford [1903–1985], Cleveland Heights, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1976 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1976– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The title in the bottom margin is a continuation of the text on the previous page. digital description: wall description: Wielding a curved sword, and with a stabbing dagger tucked into his belt, the hero, Alamshah the Greek, perches on a cliff above a rushing torrent of water. He has just slain the villain who raised the massive bronze plug on the dam in order to wash away the camp of Alamshah’s father, Hamza. The villain here was a demon; this epic elides the historical with the mythical. Hamza was battling forces of infidelity to Islam as well as enemies of Iran.
This page came from a 14-volume book commissioned by Emperor Akbar. Astonishing in size and scale, the paintings reveal Akbar’s preference for dramatic action. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 303 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n323 Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. page number: cat. no. 10 url: Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 170-171 url: Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 327, no. 11.8 url: Seyller, John William, and W. M. Thackston. The Adventures of Hamza: Painting and Storytelling in Mughal India. Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, 2002. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 51, pp.162-163, R78, p. 266 url: Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 332, no. 11.19 url: Douglass, Scott, and Dennis J. Sporre. The Creative Impulse. Seventh Edition. Seventh Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2006. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 322, fig. 10.18 url: Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 174-175 url: Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie. "From the Fifth Vizier's Story to the Gifts of Timur: Mughal Paintings by Sravana in the Cleveland Museum of Art." Orientations: The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art, November/December 2013, pp. 13-18. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 5 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 211–212 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 35 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.74/1976.74_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.74/1976.74_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.74/1976.74_full.tif