Shiblee Muneer was born in Jhang, the capital of the state of Punjab, Pakistan, in a family of artists, in which miniature painting has been practiced for centuries. The family legend has it that Muneer’s ancestors followed the first Mughal Emperor Babur from their native Afghanistan to Persia and then India, as part of his team of painters and calligraphers. Members of this family remained at the Delhi court
until the early 19th century, however, with the decline of Mughal power and art patronage, they moved to Patiala, transferring the thorough grounding in the Mughal painterly tradition to this Sikh-ruled court.
Muneer’s great-great-grandfather, Ustad Allah Ditta founded the princely painting workshop at Patiala, where the so-called ‘Pahari’ style of miniature painting developed under his guidance. Ustad Allah Ditta’s
grandson, and Muneer’s grandfather, Ustad Haji Mohammad Sharif (1889-1978) was a well-known painter not only on the Indian subcontinent but also internationally, through the UK’s India Society. He was based at Patiala and traveled to other regions on the request of his employer, Maharajah Bhupinder Singh (1891-1938). Several years after the death of this passionate patron of the arts, Ustad Haji Sharif was requested for a teaching appointment at the Mayo School of the Arts (now National College of Arts) in Lahore, where the family settled permanently after the partition of India. Heading the Miniature Department at the Mayo School of Arts from 1945 to 1966, Haji Sharif developed the first curriculum for teaching miniature painting at an academic institution, and he trained the first cohort of miniaturists in independent Pakistan. He is considered the founder of Pakistani miniature painting. The painting tradition in Muneer’s family is passed from generation to generation. Both male and female family members begin learning the philosophy and techniques involved in creating a miniature—from paper production, to the mixing of pigments, to calligraphy, coloring, and shading—at home, and later they apprentice with other master painters. Having followed the apprenticeship system in calligraphy and painting since an early age, Muneer also received academic degrees from the Naqsh School of Arts and Beaconhouse
National University.
