Room 2590
South Asian Art
South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras

Created over the course of a thousand years in a region that is now Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, the objects in this gallery offer evidence of the interrelationships between the arts, religions, and cultures of South Asia. Devotional sculpture, architectural elements, paintings, and luxury objects reflect the artistic achievements of the traditions of Jainism, Hinduism, and Islam, and demonstrate the cultural diversity of the period. Examples of Buddhist art are displayed in galleries on the ground and second floors.

During the medieval era (800–1550), regional kingdoms flourished and Hinduism gradually became the dominant religion of South Asia. With no single teacher or historical source, Hinduism has evolved from ancient times into a richly polytheistic religion with complex narratives and varied practices.

Creative responses to a dramatic infusion of foreign influences characterize the early modern period (1550–1850), which emerged with the rise of the Muslim Mughal dynasty and closed with the establishment of the British Empire. At its zenith in the late seventeenth century, the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) laid claim to most of the Indian subcontinent, and its greatest rulers were renowned patrons and connoisseurs of the arts. In conjunction or in competition with the Mughals, their Hindu feudatories at the Rajput courts in Rajasthan, Central India, and the Punjab Hills sponsored a remarkable flowering of painting. Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century, introducing their own artistic sensibilities.

The representation of human and animal forms has played a major role in South Asian art. Before the early modern era, most Indian art was closely associated with religion, and a complex pictorial iconography developed. Almost alone among the major religions that have flourished in India, Hinduism posits that the spirit of a divinity resides in an image once it has been consecrated through priestly action. In contrast, Islam’s prohibition against idolatry defined a largely secular role for figural art.