Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Room 33 | Mughal India 1500-1900 gallery

Discover the paintings and decorative arts of the Mughal period - the most powerful and lasting of the Islamic dynasties in India.

Mughal India gallery

Galleries : 132 objects

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Musician in a landscape

  • Description

    This early example of Mughal painting depicts a clean-shaven man wearing a long blue robe and a fur hat of European style. He is sitting cross-legged on a rocky shelf by a stream, with only an attentive jackal and ducks for an audience. His head is inclined in deep reverie as he plays his kamancheh (a Persian stringed instrument, also popular in Indo-Persian court circles from the 14th to the 17th century). A gold wine flask and covered vessel stand on either side of him. The receding landscape and its pair of birds and ducks are used to emphasize his solitary and introspective state.

    This painting is attributed to Basawan, one of the leading masters of the Mughal painting workshop under the emperor Akbar (1556-1605). Basawan made a close study of the European prints and paintings which were reaching the Mughal court in growing numbers. Certain aspects about the painting, such as the drawing and handling of the tree foliage, suggest that it was most likely painted at a relatively early phase in his career.

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaIndia north India (place of creation)
    Date
    1575 - 1580
    Mughal Period (1526 - 1858)
    Artist/maker
    attributed to Basawan (active 1556 - 1600) (artist)
    Material and technique
    gouache with gold on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 55.9 x 40.6 cm (height x width)
    painting 9.6 x 6 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the Neil Kreitman Foundation, in honour of Dr Andrew Topsfield, 2008.
    Accession no.
    EA2008.81

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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