Portrait of a man

17th century

Mughal painting workshops fostered the marriage of local traditions with influences imported from both West and East. Like his son Aurangzeb after him, Shah Jahan’s portraits, for example, featured a flat picture plane—a local tradition—with the ruler at the center of the scene, his head silhouetted within a halo, a Western influence. Sporting the most fashionable hairstyle, clothing and jewels of his day, this man bears a striking resemblance to the adult Shah Jahan. Halo-less, however, this person is probably a nobleman, and not Shah Jahan himself.

Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper

9 x 5 13/16 in. (22.9 x 14.7 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

57.80

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Luminous: The Art of Asia", October 13, 2011 - January 8, 2012

San Francisco, California, San Francisco Museum of Art, "Art in Asia and the West", (1957)

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