Khwaja Abdus Samad

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Khwaja Abdus Samad (16th century) was an Iranian painter and one of the founders of the Mughal school of painting in India. He was born in Shiraz.

Early in life, Samad became known for his painting and calligraphy. Samad met the Mughal emperor Humayun in Tabriz, where he was invited to come with the emperor, though he was unable to accompany the emperor at that time. In 1548, he came to the temporary Mughal capital, Kabul^[1] where he was hired by Humayun to teach himself and his son Akbar, how to draw. Samad was thus one of the first to become a member of the imperial atelier (imperial art studio) of India. A few of his works executed during this period is located in the Royal Library of the Golestan palace in Tehran. One such miniature painting created by Samad depicts Akbar giving a miniature painting to his father Humayun. This painting looks very typical of Persian paintings of that time, but it also contains aspects that would go on to influence future Indian painting.

While at the atelier, Samad supervised (along with Mir Sayyid Ali) the illustrations that were done for the Hamzanama- about 1,400 large paintings (although it is uncertain whether Samad himself painted any of them). Also in the course of teaching at the atelier, Samad taught Dasvant and Basavan, two Hindu men who went on to become famous Mughal painters.

In 1576, Akbar put Samad in charge of the Fatehpur Sikri mint. In 1584, Akbar made him dewan of Multan. He was given a mansab of 400 and honored with the title of Shirin Qalam (sweet pen)^[1].

More of Samad's work can be seen in the illustrations found in the 1595 manuscript of the Khamseh of Nezami, today located in the British Museum.