ART COLLECTIONS WORLD CARRY UNIDENTIFIED BEHZAD LAHORI
NO ONE WILLING TO GIVE CREDIT TO LAHORE AND ITS PAINTERS

A quick scan of books on Islamic art and here and there we come across the signature Behzad. The work of Kamaluddin Behzad is easily recognizable, but the other Behzad is dismissed as a forgery or false attribution. And this is not the case at all., Here we are talking about Behzad Lahori son of Khawaja Abdul Samad, who moved from Kabul to Lahore at the invitation of Emperor Humayoun and served Emperor Akbar and others. If we just open our prejudiced eyes, we can see this on our own, easily.

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Take for instance the work  SEATED ARTIST. Scholars agree that this painting is around 1600 AD and it has both Safavid and Mughal feelings to its creation. Mughal yes, obviously. The year 892 AH comes to 1486 AD which cannot be so. The numerals 89 are clear, the third symbol is not. Artists at times mention their age when doing paintings. Even Kamaluddin Behzad has mentioned a painting which he created at 70 years of age. It would be a great achievement of Behzad Lahori if he created this work at the age of 89 years. We just do not know. Why not mention that Behzad is from Lahore? Stuart Cary Welch agreed with me when he came here in 1981 to our show. Scholar Ebadollah Bahari also knows same. Painter Razia Feroze has written a monumental book on Behzad, and we hope some day it can be published. Till then clarify in books. We do so all the time. Read other too:

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