Portrait of Murad Bakhsh (1624–61)
- Medium
- gum tempera and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 28.4 x 25.7 cm (11 3/16 x 10 1/8 in.); Painting: 4.3 x 3.5 cm (1 11/16 x 1 3/8 in.)
- Genre
- painting
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Tags
Mughal India, court of Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–58)
About
The miniature portrait of a Mughal prince is now mounted on an album page. Originally, it was in a gemstone setting as a “portrait jewel” to be worn by family and supporters at court. India’s ruling elite had been wearing portrait jewels since Sir Thomas Rowe (about 1581–1655) presented British portrait miniatures and cameos to the Mughal emperor as part of a diplomatic gift in 1616, when he successfully negotiated for British access to India’s ports.