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Nanha [Nanha]
( fl c. 1582–1635). Indian miniature painter. His works epitomize the stylistic and typological changes that occurred in Mughal painting during the reigns of the three emperors who were his patrons: Akbar (reg 1556–1605), Jahangir (reg 1605–27) and Shah Jahan (reg 1628–57). His earliest known works appear in the Darabnama (‘History of Darab’; c. 1580; London, BL, Or. Ms. 4615); the Razmnama (‘Book of war’; 1582–6; Jaipur, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Mus., MS. AG. 1683–1850), a translation of the Hindu epic the Mahabharata commissioned by Akbar; and the Tarikh-i Khandan-i Timuriyya (‘History of the house of Timur’; c. 1584; Bankipur, Patna, Khuda Bakhsh Lib.). Nanha is not among the 17 artists singled out for praise in the Ayin-i Akbari, a contemporary account of Akbar’s reign, but his multiple roles as designer, painter and portraitist in the Akbarnama of c. 1590 (‘History of Akbar’; London, V&A, MS. IS. 2-1896) suggest that he ranked high in the atelier’s second tier of artists. He contributed more often to profusely illustrated manuscripts than to de luxe projects; however, one painting in Akbar’s fine, small Divan (collected poems) of Anvari (1588; Cambridge, MA, Sackler Mus., MS. 1960.117.15) has been attributed to him and four paintings in the Khamsa (‘Five poems’) of Nizami (1595; London, BL, Or. MS. 12208, fols 63v, 159r, and 305v (signed on a scroll held by a seated figure in yellow); and Baltimore, MD, Walters A.G., MS. W.613, fol. 16v) bear inscriptions naming him as the artist. Nanha’s work displays two distinctive figure types: one whose thickset neck and shoulders impart a notable stockiness and another whose slender physique is accentuated by strong contours and a small but heavily modelled face.
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