Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
Walters manuscript W.596 is a copy of the Baburnama. Recognized as one of the world's great autobiographical memoirs, the Baburnama is the story of Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur (866 AH/AD 1483-937 AH/AD 1530), who conquered northern India and established the Mughal Empire (or Timurid-Mughal empire). Born in Fergana (Central Asia), Babur was a patrilineal Timurid and matrilineal Chingizid. Babur wrote his memoir in Chaghatay Turkish, which he referred to as Turkic, and it was later translated into Persian and repeatedly copied and illustrated under his Mughal successors. The present copy in Persian, written in Nasta'liq script, is a fragment of a dispersed manuscript that was executed in the late 10th century AH/AD 16th. The ordering of the folios as found here does not follow the narrative of the text. The Walters' fragment contains 30 mostly full-page paintings that are representative of the Mughal court style under the Mughal Emperor Akbar (reigned 963 AH/AD 1556-1014 AH/AD 1605). Another major fragment of this work containing 57 folios is in the State Museum of Eastern Cultures, Moscow. The dark green leather binding, which is not original to the manuscript, dates to the late 13th century AH/AD 19th or early 14th century AH/AD 20th.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
1759
label
Baburnama
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
1759
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Baburnama
description
Walters manuscript W.596 is a copy of the Baburnama. Recognized as one of the world's great autobiographical memoirs, the Baburnama is the story of Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur (866 AH/AD 1483-937 AH/AD 1530), who conquered northern India and established the Mughal Empire (or Timurid-Mughal empire). Born in Fergana (Central Asia), Babur was a patrilineal Timurid and matrilineal Chingizid. Babur wrote his memoir in Chaghatay Turkish, which he referred to as Turkic, and it was later translated into Persian and repeatedly copied and illustrated under his Mughal successors. The present copy in Persian, written in Nasta'liq script, is a fragment of a dispersed manuscript that was executed in the late 10th century AH/AD 16th. The ordering of the folios as found here does not follow the narrative of the text. The Walters' fragment contains 30 mostly full-page paintings that are representative of the Mughal court style under the Mughal Emperor Akbar (reigned 963 AH/AD 1556-1014 AH/AD 1605). Another major fragment of this work containing 57 folios is in the State Museum of Eastern Cultures, Moscow. The dark green leather binding, which is not original to the manuscript, dates to the late 13th century AH/AD 19th or early 14th century AH/AD 20th.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
10th century AH/AD 16th century (Mughal)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
32
height
21
dimensionsRaw
Folio H: 12 5/8 x W: 8 1/4 in. (32 x 21 cm); W closed: 8 1/4 x D: 3/8 in. (21 x 1 cm)
Source extras
style
Mughal
dynasty
Mughal Dynasty
RelatedObjects
90216
80126
6343
27423
22697
5476
5758
36265
30227
25561
20714
4748
39070
4904
9601
19311
24727
39113
33869
19845
13487
9544
14445
24290
29287
11261
9859
25120
31668
408
21671
19396
91088
94063
94064
med
ink and pigments on re-margined paper covered with limp dark green goatskin
creator_ids
7547
collection_ids
MSS
ISL
MIS
INT
exhibition_ids
2827
2714
2289
2916
29
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
f0024bc8ad477877