Squirrels in a Plane Tree?: Mughal Painting and Islamic Ontology

Description: Far from being an iconophobic tradition, Islamic art in South Asia reveals a rich polyvalence of figural expression that has often been misunderstood or overlooked. This lecture examines one of these hidden treasures—a Mughal-era artwork that defies the common perception of Islamic art’s relationship with the human form. By combining an art historical survey with an analysis of Indo-Persian literature, the lecture shows how figural painting was intimately linked to a distinctive Indo-Muslim religious expression widely circulated across South Asia. In the process, this lecture also presents a fresh methodological approach for the study of Islamic art.
 
Murad Khan Mumtaz is an associate professor of Art History at Williams College. He examines historical intersections of art, literature, and religious expression in South Asia, with a primary focus on Indo-Muslim patronage. Combining art history with textual analysis, his recent book, Faces of God: Images of Devotion in Indo-Muslim Painting (Brill, 2023), examines the cultural contexts within which these Islamicate images of devotion were made and viewed. Murad is also an artist trained in traditional Hindustani painting techniques, and he continues to exhibit his work internationally. This event is being co-sponsored by the Department for the Study of Religion and the Department of Historical Studies.
 
Organized by Mohannad Abusarah and Professor Karen Ruffle