Publication Date
1580
Publication Place
-
Aga Khan Museum
Subject
Opaque watercolor, silver, gold, paper
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
39.6 x 31.3cm
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
AKM122
Record ID
object;EPM;ca;Mus21;39;ar
Library Location
Aga Khan Museum
Date
1580
Notes
The colorful rock landscape depicts a prince visiting a hermit in his cave. The prince sits contemplating in front of the hermit while the eight attendants wait on either side of the small river. His official horse appears as the centerpiece of the painting, which occupies a major part of the lower half of the painting and is emphasized by the natural halo formed by the sand-coloured floor on which it rests. As Anthony Welsh noted, the horse was a symbol of power and pottery, but also a symbol of the temporality of the world (Welsh and Welsh 1982, p. 160) and of servants. Dressed in bright and colorful clothing, the great horse stands in stark contrast to the hermit and his attendant (perhaps a disciple) who sits before the cave at the water's edge, and the figures with gaunt, gaunt bodies indicating their abandonment of the wreckage of the world to follow the path of enlightenment through Sufism. The upper half of the painting evokes an atmosphere of contemplation and desolation that strikes even the prince, who may have come to the place in search of guidance from a Sufi master (sheikh) (murshid), which was a common theme in poetry. And Persian painting. The work of the teacher was to lead his student through the path of challenges and reach oneness with God. The transfer of knowledge between the disciple and the guide was seen as a transfer of light from the heart of the teacher to the heart of the student. The formation of the Persian painting style combined with the use of a range of colors closest to the earth and the natural expression of shapes and the natural scene, but this means that the current painting was produced in India under the rule of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (reigned during 1556-1605), a period characterized by the synthesis of foreign and local artistic styles and this composition. The shared aesthetic was a reflection of the great ruler's acceptance of different religions. Akbar established a divine religion that borrowed from ideas from Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Jainism (Canby 1998, p. 111). Welsh attributes the work to a line by the Persian painter Abd al-Samad, an artist of the Safavid era (1501-1732) who left the court of Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-1734). 1732) to work first for Akbar's father, Emperor Humayun (r. 1530-39) and then for Akbar (Welsh and Welsh 1982, p. 160). Welsh also believes that the prince represented in this picture could be Akbar Salim's son, the future Emperor Janjir (1605-27), based on the similarity of this figure to that of the seated prince in a nailed drawing identified as Prince Salim and also in the museum collection (source Previous 2, p. 162 (For an image of this work, see also Canby 1998, p. 110, n. 80). Although Canby identifies this figure as Akbar, Sheila Canby has suggested that the figure of the prince could represent Akbar if it can be linked to a hunting event (gambles) in the Punjab ordered by the emperor in April-May 1578 at a site considered one of Alexander the Great's successful battles (Canby 1998, p. 111) According to Akbar's historian Abu al-Fadl (d. 1602), Akbar suffered a reappearance during the hunt, which led him to call off the hunt and release all the captured animals.
Sample Text
“A Prince with a Hermit” within Discover Islamic Art Collections. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;ca;Mus21;39;ar
