Husain Ali Khan Entertaining His Brothers (The Sayyid Brothers)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Husain Ali Khan Entertaining His Brothers (The Sayyid Brothers)

Date
c. 1712–19
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Culture
India, Mughal Dynasty (1526-1756)
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
170851

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

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. The man shown smoking a hookah is the Mughal imperial ruler.

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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

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