"Portrait of Shaikh Mu'in al-Din Hasan Chishti", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Unknown

recto and verso: early 19th century · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art

This portrait of a sufi is identified along the right border as being the likeness of Shaikh Mu`in al-Din Hasan Chishti (1141–1230), an important member of the Chishtiyya sufi order. Founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan in 930, the Chishtiyya Sufi Order expanded to India when Mu'in al-Din Hasan Chishti traveled there in 1193. His presence in India led to an expansion of the Chishti order in the Indian subcontinent, which continued to flourish long after his death in 1230. The tomb of Shaikh Mu`in al-Din Hasan Chishti in Ajmer is to this day a popular destination for pilgrims wishing to venerate this respected saint.

Artist

Unknown

Date

recto and verso: early 19th century

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955