A Mughal courtier
c. 1575; border added probably 1700s
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
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.
- Title: A Mughal courtier
- Date Created: c. 1575; border added probably 1700s
- Provenance: Hagop Kevorkian [1872–1962], New York, NY, (Sotheby’s, London, Highly Important Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures: The Property of the Kevorkian Foundation, 6 December 1967, lot 114, sold to Ralph Benkaim), Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.294
- Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper, mounted with gold-sprinkled borders
- Inscriptions: Inscription in top margin, upside-down in nasta‘liq script, probably added c. 1700s: Sarkhod
- Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
- Credit Line: 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
- Collection: Indian Art - Mughal
- Accession Number: 2013.294
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