Cleveland Museum of Art

A Mughal courtier

Date: c. 1575; border added probably 1700s
Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper, mounted with gold-sprinkled borders
Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

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