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Husain Ali Khan Entertaining His Brothers (The Sayyid Brothers)
c. 1712-19
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
The shrewd imperial oligarch smoking the hookah and his brothers ran the Mughal government after the death of Emperor Alamgir in 1707 until the rise of Emperor Muhammad Shah in 1719. They were ruthless, self-serving kingmakers who caused the assassinations and accessions of six different members of the royal family to the Mughal throne in Delhi. The two attendants behind him exchange a worried glance, and the rare use of a flat gray sky behind the white marble terrace suggests the artist’s mood about the future strength and prosperity of the empire.
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Details
- Title: Husain Ali Khan Entertaining His Brothers (The Sayyid Brothers)
- Date Created: c. 1712-19
- Physical Dimensions: Page: 30.8 x 30.5 cm (12 1/8 x 12 in.)
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.334
- Medium: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Inscriptions: Persian inscription at bottom, in nasta‘liq script: Portraits of Nawab Husayn-Ali Khan and Abdullah Khan and Najm al-Din Ali Khan and Fakhr al-Din Ali Khan
- Fun Fact: The man shown smoking a hookah is the Mughal imperial ruler.
- Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Culture: India, Mughal Dynasty (1526-1756)
- 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: 2013.334
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