MUGHAL INDIA, 17TH CENTURY

The present portrait belongs to the emerging tradition of Sufi portraiture in Mughal India, which developed particularly strongly in the mid 17th century. Murad Mumtaz has traced the emergence of this genre to the close relationship between the Sufi master Mulla Shah and the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh and Princess Jahanara Begum, whose patronage helped establish portraits of Sufi saints as objects of devotional contemplation. The identity of the saint depicted here remains unknown; his white robes, distinctive turban and long staff emphasise his status as a holy man. (Murad Mumtaz, ‘Sufi Icons: Jahānārā, Dārā Shikoh and the Birth of a Genre’, in L. Greaves and A. Hardy (eds.), Bridging Heaven and Earth: Art and Architecture in South Asia, 3rd Century BCE–21st Century CE, New Delhi, 2020, pp. 243–256).