(b 1588; fl 1600–30). Indian painter. In 1618 the Mughal emperor Jahangir (reg 1605–27) wrote in his memoirs that Abu’l-Hasan’s ‘work was perfect...At the present time he has no rival or equal... Truly he has become Nadir al-Zaman ("Wonder of the age")’. Some of this artist’s paintings are among the greatest in Mughal art. He was born in Jahangir’s household in 1588, the son of the erstwhile Safavid artist AQA RIZA (i). Abu’l-Hasan’s earliest known work, a drawing based on Albrecht Dürer’s St John and executed when he was only 12 (Oxford, Ashmolean), already shows in its naturalism the trend of his mature work. A single painting in a manuscript of the fable-book Anvar-i Suhayli (‘Lights of Canopus’), probably done in 1604 (London, BL), develops the naturalism of his portraiture but still contains a Safavid landscape based on his father’s work; his sense of respect for the latter is indicated by his signing himself here ‘the dust of Riza’s threshold’. He maintained throughout his career the meticulous finish of the Safavid style.

• Abu'l-Hasan
  • `Abid
  • Aqa Riza (i)
  • Indian subcontinent, §I, 9: Status of the artist
  • Indian sub., §VI, 4(i)(c): Mughal ptg styles, 16th–19th centuries: Jahangir period
  • Indian sub., §VI, 4(i)(c): Mughal ptg styles, 16th–19th centuries: Jahangir period
  • Indian sub., §VI, 4(i)(c): Mughal ptg styles, 16th–19th centuries: Jahangir period
  • Indian sub., §VI, 4(i)(d): Mughal ptg styles, 16th–19th centuries: Shah Jahan period
  • collaboration
    • Manohar
  • patrons and collectors
    • Indian subcontinent, §XIII, 2(ii): Museums in North America and the Pacific
  • works
    • Islamic art, §III, 4(vi)(d): Painted book illustration, c 1500–c 1900: Indian subcontinent
    • Throne, §IV, 1: Indian subcontinent