Picture Details
From Nimmatnama-i Nasiruddin-Shahi (the Book of Recipes)
Partner:
British LibraryImage reference:
BL.I.O.Isl.149.f.79bOrigin:
Deccan, IndiaArtist / Date:
Unknown, c.1495-1505Size:
310 x 215 mmDescription:
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Ghiyas-ud-din Khalji, the Sultan of Mandu (ruled 1469-1500) was a sybarite, who cut himself off from the cares of state to amuse himself with food and drink and innumerable women. By this period, north India had a fairly unified painting style from the combination of two sources, Hindu-Jaina and Persian. The convention was to depict Indians in full profile and non-Indians with three-quarter profile. Nimmatnamah or Book of Recipes (written in Persian) appears to have been filled with epicurean delights for Ghiyas-ud-din's benefit but completed in the reign of his son Nasir-ud-din Shah. The text provides recipes for dishes such as Kheer or milk pudding and Kheema or savoury mincemeat. It advises that in order to get the sweetest milk for puddings, a well-marked cow should be selected and fed on sugarcane for weeks and her milk then utilised. This image is a continuation of the Kheer and Kheema theme where the Sultan, seated under a cloth awning is watching the dish being prepared in the open air.
