Attendants at an Imperial Durbar
Hunhar
ca. 1645 · Opaque color and gold on paper · Islamic Art
The painting is a fragment of the right-hand side of a double-page composition related to the prestigious Padshahnama (Chronicle of the Emperor), the imperial illustrated chronicle of the Shah Jahan period. Here grandees and court attendants are assembled facing left towards the missing left-hand page where the emperor would have been receiving the Persian ambassador in full durbar assembly. Seen in the present painting are several Persian figures from the ambassador’s retinue, identifiable by their large turbans, Mughal courtiers, and grooms and attendants while magnificently painted horses and elephants are also included. An animated group of musicians welcome the party from the naqqarkhana (drum house) above the gate, an important feature of Mughal court ritual.
- Artist
- Hunhar
- Date
- ca. 1645
- Medium
- Opaque color and gold on paper
- Department
- Islamic Art
- Credit line
- Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions and 2020 Benefit Funds; Howard S. and Nancy Marks Gift; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; The Mossavar-Rahmani Fund for Iranian Art and funds from various donors, 2022
