A Collector and His Portrait: Book Arts and Painting for Ibrahim 'Adil Shah II of Bijapur (r. 1580--1627).

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In the relatively nascent field of Deccani art history, the Bijapuri ruler Ibrahim `Adil Shah II (r. 1580--1627) has attracted substantial scholarly attention. Ibrahim ruled for nearly fifty years, and the largest corpus of extant Bijapuri art and architecture dates to his lengthy reign. Several of the ruler's portraits have been heralded as masterpieces of Indo-Persian painting, and Ibrahim, in turn, has been lauded as a refined aesthete and the Deccan's "greatest" patron of the arts. The ruler's religious syncretism has further added to his romantic portrayal, and he is commonly categorized as a "tolerant" and "sensitive" "Akbar of the South." Despite Ibrahim's omnipresence and systematic "heroization," fundamental questions concerning his self-representation, strategies of sovereignty, and precise involvement with the visual arts remain unresolved. In addition, much of the current understanding of his "masterpiece" portraits is limited to formal analysis lacking critical context. The central aim of this dissertation is therefore to paint a more objective, detailed, and nuanced portrait of both Ibrahim and the works of art produced during his reign. At stake are the following questions: How can we activate and trace the ruler's agency in the visual arts? How did the sovereign visualize his kingship, and in turn, how was his kingship defined?.
In order to begin to answer these questions, this dissertation casts a holistic net over painting and book arts in Ibrahim's Bijapur. It begins with an unprecedented examination of wall painting and collecting, which serves both to balance the emphasis on Ibrahim's portraits and to illuminate his intellectual identity. The latter is revealed to have been firmly rooted in the fundamental prerogatives of Perso-Islamic kingship from Safavid Iran to Mughal India. The consideration of Ibrahim's cultural fluency---and the intellectual climate of his court in general---provides the necessary background for the subsequent investigation of his portraits, the majority of which were painted by either Farrukh Husayn/Beg or the so-called "Bodleian Painter." In addition to resolving some of the enigmas surrounding the identities and contributions of these two renowned artists, this project elucidates how several of Ibrahim's portraits challenge the categorical juxtaposition of Bijapuri and Mughal painting ("dreamlike" and "imaginary" versus "realistic" and "historical"). It also expands the scope of inquiry to consider the role of art---and particularly portraiture---in Islamic diplomacy of the early seventeenth century. Ultimately, this dissertation revises prevailing perceptions of both Ibrahim and Bijapuri painting by introducing alternative sources of evidence, investigating painting through a multi-media lens, contextualizing Ibrahim as an Indo-Islamic monarch (not just an isolated Deccani one), and balancing codicology and connoisseurship with questions concerning the circulation, function, and reception of works of art. In doing so, this project positions Ibrahim-era visual culture as an integral and pertinent chapter in the broader field of early modern Indo-Persian art history.