Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings is a Mughal miniature painting by the Indian artist, Bichitr for the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, dated to c. 1615–1618.[1][2][3] It is situated in the Freer Gallery of Art.
| Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Bichitr |
| Year | c. 1615 – c. 1618 |
| Medium | Gouache, gold and ink on paper |
| Movement | Mughal miniature |
| Subject | |
| Location | Freer Gallery of Art |
It depicts the emperor, seated upon a throne in the form of an hourglass, handing a book to a Sufi saint, while the Ottoman sultan and the King of England look on. The artist Bichitr himself is pictured in the bottom-left corner of the image, in a self-insert.[2][4]
Description
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The emperor Jahangir is depicted wearing a jama, with a halo around his face combining the imagery of the sun and the crescent moon. He is slightly larger than the other figures, in accordance with hierarchical proportion.[4][5]
He is seated on a throne shaped like an European hourglass. The hourglass can be interpreted as a reference to the second Islamic millennium, which began in 1591-2, some time before Jahangir's accession to the throne in 1605. On the hourglass, a Persian inscription reads, "God is great. O Shah, may the span of your reign be a thousand years". This might indicate that the painting was presented to the emperor on his birthday.[1][4]
Jahangir is seen offering a book to a bearded Sufi saint. The saint is Shaikh Hussain, a descendant of the revered Mu’in al-Din Chishti. The other men before him are the Ottoman sultan, the King of England and Scotland James VI and I, and the artist Bichitr himself. The depiction of the Ottoman sultan, which seems to be a general type rather than any specific portrait, draws from a work by Giovanni Bellini, and the depiction of James VI and I is taken from a work by John de Critz, brought to India by the English ambassador Thomas Roe.[1]
In the bottom-left corner of the image is the artist Bichitr. He is portrayed wearing a Hindu-styled robe, and holding up a painting. Stuart C. Welch interprets this painting to be of Bichitr himself bowing to the emperor. This self-insertion as a sort of signature, became a custom in Mughal painting in the coming years.[6][1][4][5]
A Venetian-styled carpet constitutes the lower half of the background, while the upper half is sky blue. Four putti are seen in the picture. Two of them are at the bottom of the hourglass, gathering the sand which has fallen into the bottom half, while two are flying in the background.[4]
Two Persian couplets are inscribed above and below the painting, reading, "By the grace of God is he truly a king both in form and spirit: the Shah Nur-ud Din Jahangir, son of Padshah Akbar; To all appearances, even as kings and potentates stand in attendance upon him, his gaze falls, inwardly, ever upon holy dervishes." These couplets, along with the border, are later additions.[1][4][2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Weekes, Ursula (2018-04-05). "A closer look at Mughal Emperor Jahangir depicted on the hourglass throne". British Academy. Archived from the original on 2024-04-21. Retrieved 2024-12-08.
- ^ a b c Smee, Sebastian (2021-03-03). "A Mughal masterpiece". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2024-07-28. Retrieved 2024-12-08.
- ^ Singh, Jyotsna G. (2013-02-26). A Companion to the Global Renaissance: English Literature and Culture in the Era of Expansion. John Wiley & Sons. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-118-65122-3.
- ^ a b c d e f Goswamy, B. N. (2014). The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works, 1100-1900. Penguin Books. pp. 322−325. ISBN 978-0-670-08657-3.
- ^ a b Folsach, Kjeld von; Meyer, Joachim; samling, C. L. Davids fond og (2017). The Human Figure in Islamic Art: Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners. David Collection. p. 37. ISBN 978-87-92949-96-7.
- ^ Beach, Milo Cleveland (1981). The imperial image: paintings for the Mughal court. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington. pp. 168–169.
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