This illustration comes from a dispersed manuscript of the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the great Hindu Mahabharata epic made during Akbar’s reign. It depicts Bhishma seated on a carpet in a landscape. Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira in the nature of the soul, or the recognition of the jivatman and the dharmatman. The work was probably commissioned by Akbar’s leading minister, Abd ur-Rahim Khankhanan, and executed by artists trained in the imperial studio. The Ashmolean has five other pages from this manuscript, and many others are in the British Museum.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 18 July-13 September 1981, and London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1981, Eastern Ceramics and Other Works of Art from the Collection of Gerald Reitlinger: Catalogue of the Memorial Exhibition, Deborah Willis, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum and London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1981), no. 406 on p. 143, illus. p. 143
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum