The Deccani Schools of Painting
Golconda
See how wealth shows in painting.
Golconda, independent from 1512, became the richest kingdom of the Deccan, through trade from its east-coast ports and, in the seventeenth century, diamonds. Its paintings show lots of gold jewellery on both men and women.
Dutch merchants carried portraits of its sultans to Europe. Some earlier paintings (1635-1650) were up to eight feet high, and were used as wall hangings.
Early court scenes, bound into a Diwan of Hafiz, show a young ruler with a long, straight Deccani sword, dancing girls, flat, symmetrical buildings, patterned carpets, gold and azure, and even purple and blue foxes. There is no Mughal influence here. A later portrait of Muhammad Qutb Shah adds Mughal-like modelling.
A Sufi poem has over 20 miniatures, with skies banded in gold and blue, Deccani trees with tinted edges, and plants silhouetted against dark foliage.
The Composite Horse is a horse made of intertwined figures, with cranes, lions and Chinese clouds, in browns and blue. A portrait of Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah shows a sword for sovereignty and a halo for divinity.
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