Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza)

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this painting as Gum tempera, ink, and gold on cotton and paper.

The museum's collection notes: The hero, Alamshah the Greek, perches on a cliff above a rushing torrent of water. He has just slain the villain who raised the massive bronze plug on the dam in order to wash away the camp of Alamshah’s father, Hamza. The Hamza-nama recounts the adventures of an uncle of the Prophet Mohammed. It was the first major undertaking of the fledgling painting workshop created by Akbar. Originally in 14 volumes of 100 illustrations each, just a little more than 10 percent of the pages survive.