mughal indiamughal
Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings (c. 1615–1618)
Allegorical imperial portrait painted at the Mughal court, c. 1615–1618, attributed to the painter Bichitr (active c. 1615–1640). Emperor Jahangir is shown seated on an hourglass throne, bestowing a book on a Sufi shaikh while a Turkish sultan and King James I of England wait below. Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Critical Reception History
Canonical Elevation
1980 · Mughal art historians (20th–21st century Western and South Asian)
Since the mid-20th century the painting has been established as the canonical example of Mughal allegorical imperial portraiture — the work most cited in survey treatments of Mughal painting for its synthesis of Islamic, Hindu, and European visual traditions.