File:Bichitr - Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings, from the St. Petersburg album - Google Art Project.jpg
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Summary
Bichitr: Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings
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| Artist |
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| Title |
Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings, from the St. Petersburg album |
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| Part of |
St. Petersburg Album  |
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| Object type |
watercolor painting |
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| Depicted people |
Jahangir I |
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| Date | from 1615 until 1618 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medium | gouache, gold and ink on paper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions | height: 25.3 cm (9.9 in); width: 18 cm (7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Collection |
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| Current location |
Not on view |
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| Accession number |
F1942.15a (Freer Gallery of Art) |
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| Object history | From the Leningrad Album By Bichitr, Circa 1615-18 Borders signed by Muhammad Sadiq, mid-18th century 25.3 X 18.1 cm. (10 X IVs in.); 47.9 x 33 cm. (18% X 13 in.) Ex-collection: Kevorkian published: Ettinghausen, “Emperor’s Choice”; Ettinghausen, pi. 14; Welch IMP, pi. 22; M. C. Beach, “The Mughal Painter Abu’l Hasan and Some English Sources for His Style,” Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 38: 13-14. 42.15 ” Details, pp. 21, 30; color plate, p. 79. Early in his memoirs, Jahangir made a reference important to our understanding of this work: :- Till he was 28 years old, no child of my father had lived, and he was continually praying for the survival of a son to dervishes and recluses, by whom spiritual approach to the throne of Allah is obtained. As the great master, Khwaja Mu’inu-d-din Chishti, was the fountainhead of most of the saints of India, he considered that in order to obtain this object he should have recourse to the blessed threshold, and resolved within himself that if Almighty God should bestow a son on him he would, by way of complete humility, go on foot from Agra to his blessed mausoleum. The dargah or shrine of this great saint of the Chishti sect was at Ajmer, where Jahangir lived between 1613 and 1616. The aged Shaikh Husain (Khwaja Husain Ajmeri), a direct descendant of Mu’in-ud-din Chishti, was in charge of the dargah, and it is to him that Jahangir is presenting a book in this illustration. He had had an unhappy career, for he and the highly influential Abu’l Fazl were personal enemies. He was attacked and then banished to Mecca, but in 1600—1601 Shaikh Husain (Khwaja Husain Ajmeri) returned to his duties at Ajmer. The meaning of the painting has been lengthily and brilliantly discussed by Richard Ettinghausen (see below), who freely translated the couplets at top and bottom as follows :- Shah Nur-ud-din Jahangir, son of Akbar, the emperor. He is emperor in form and spirit through the grace of God.'Although to all appearances kings stand before him, He looks inwardly towards the dervishes (for guidance).' Ettinghausen argued that it is precisely this choice of holy men over secular rulers, of the divine over the mundane, that is the subject of the illustration. He notes the putti above, who seem both dazzled by Jahangir’s splendor and distressed that their emblems of worldly sovereignty are rejected; the arrows on the left, for example, are broken and useless. It is, however, also necessary to remember that the presence and importance of Shaikh Husain (Khwaja Husain Ajmeri) is at the same time a celebration of the source of Mughal dynastic power. Of additional importance is the hourglass throne, on which angels are inscribing: “O Shah, may the span of your life be a thousand years” - an antidote to the symbolic acknowledgment of time passing. Below the Shaikh Husain (Khwaja Husain Ajmeri), three men crowd the left margin: a Turkish sultan (who seems a general type, rather than a specific portrait), King James of England, and a Hindu. The latter portrait is of the painter Bichitr and—as interpreted by Stuart C. Welch - he seems to be holding a painting of himself bowing to Jahangir. Unless the iconography of the painting is somewhat less consciously planned than Ettinghausen’s discussion allows, the presence of a menial artist among such exalted company is inexplicable. As we noted earlier (on p. 29), the portrait of James I is copied from an English work by John de Critz, and this would almost certainly have reached the court through Thomas Roe (who remained there until 1618). Roe noted in his memoirs that a picture of James I was exhibited at the New Year Darbar in 1616. A similar figure of a Turk, also derived from a European model, appears in the earliest allegorical portrait known, the Darbar of Jahangir (cat. no. 31), painted at Ajmer about 1615. Since Jahangir’s age seems consistent in both works, and since the Shaikh Husain (Khwaja Husain Ajmeri) in this illustration is the head of the shrine at Ajmer, where Jahangir lived between 1613 and 1616, a date of about 1616 seems reasonable.8 It is at this time, too, that the Tuzuk records the following verse:- Although we have the business of kingship before us, Every moment we more and more think on the dervishes. If the heart of our Dervish be gladdened by us We count that to be the profit of our kingship.[1] [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| References | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source/Photographer | 7QF0PV3LXqTQbw — Google Arts & Culture | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other versions | The Freer Gallery of Art | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Licensing
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This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. | ||||
- ↑ The imperial image paintings for the Mughal court 2012
- ↑ AJMER KA ANKAHA ITIHAS / अजमेर का अनकहा इतिहास: Ajmer - Untold History
File history
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 09:06, 16 February 2011 | | 2,474 × 3,600 (6.29 MB) | DcoetzeeBot | {{Artwork |artist = Bichitr |title = {{title|lang=en|Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings, from the St. Petersburg album}} |description = |date = {{other date|-|1615|1618}} |medium = {{technique|Opaque wate |
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