Miniature pasted on an album leaf. “The Great Mughal Jahangir’s Darbar”.
India, Mughal; c. 1620.
Miniature: 32 × 22 cm.
The close contact that had existed between ruler and subject in the simpler steppe societies had disappeared in the Mughals’ extensive empire. For this reason, it was important for the people to be able to see the ruler or even appear before him in an audience – the darbar. On a throne under a tent we find Jahangir (1605-1627), surrounded by his courtiers and flanked by two yurt-like tents that hold noble female relatives. The realistic, but also quite stiff rendition of the figures might be explained by the fact that many individual portraits of leading courtiers were patched together in a presentation of this kind.
Inv. no. 20/1979.
David Collection Museum, Denmark.