Hamza Burns Zarthust’s Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes

India, Mughal; c. 1570
Miniature: 68 × 51.4 cm, on cotton tabby from a copy of the Hamza-nama.
Formerly in the Art Institute of Chicago
It took some 15 years to complete the Great Mughal Akbar’s copy of the Hamza-nama, which originally contained about 1400 miniatures. This was a gigantic project in every respect, a collaborative effort by Persian and Indian artists that is considered a pioneering work of early Mughal painting.
The book is a fictitious account of the life of Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle. Here we see Hamza in the process of burning and destroying the earthly remains of the Persian founder of Zoroastrianism, called Zarthust in the manuscript. Zarthust’s granddaughter, Manut, who raises her hands in horror, and the ugly women on the left are depicted as sorceresses.
From the David Collection, Denmark.

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