"Alexander Fights a Sea Battle", Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi
Dharmadas|Amir Khusrau Dihlavi
1597–98 · Main support: Ink, opaque watercolor, gold on paper Margins: Gold on dyed paper · Islamic Art
In the episode illustrated, Alexander the Great has ordered the construction of a tall tower surmounted by a revolving mirror in order to battle the pirates menacing the Mediterranean Sea. The protagonists appear as contemporary Indians wearing turbans and tunics, rather than ancient Greeks, and one of the fighters uses a gun, an invention from nearly two millennia after Alexander’s time.
- Artist
- Dharmadas|Amir Khusrau Dihlavi
- Date
- 1597–98
- Medium
- Main support: Ink, opaque watercolor, gold on paper Margins: Gold on dyed paper
- Department
- Islamic Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Alexander Smith Cochran, 1913
