Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: public domain (CC0) · Museum record & image source ↗

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) · c. 1575; border added probably 1700s

A Mughal courtier

Creator not recorded by the museum

Date: c. 1575; border added probably 1700s
Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper, mounted with gold-sprinkled borders
Dimensions: Not listed
Country / context: India
Movement / tradition: Mughal painting · Source ↗
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Pathway: South Asian arts ↗

FROM THE MUSEUM

This sensitive portrait is among the earliest surviving individual portraits from the Mughal atelier. He remains unidentified by inscription, since such portraits were made for the emperor Akbar who was unable to read. Realism in portraiture developed under Akbar as a means of keeping records of gifts and promotions without written notations. The figure conspicuously grasps the maroon and gold scarf in his left hand, which suggests that it may have been the gift from the emperor that would have occasioned the portrait. The array of blades he carries indicates that he was conscripted into military service at the Mughal court.

Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

A MOMENT TO LOOK

Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?

Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.

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