A Mughal Nobleman visits Two Shaykhs This painting, in the Northern Deccan Style, depicts a Mughal grandee, identified by a later inscription as 'Mirza Mumin Beg, governor of Allahabad', an important Mughal province in Northern India. He kneels before two elderly sages, who are seated on a garden platform beneath a leafy tree. The more prominent shaykh is identified as 'Mian Shah Khuballah, Sahib Allah Zakir' and is depicted with right hand resting on a crooked staff, an item often associated with holy men. A tiny begging bowl is suspended from his belt. The less prominent shaykh is identified as 'Mian Muhammad Shakir'. The principal figures are attended by three female musicians, the governor's retainer, his horse and two grooms. The landscape background incorporates the outline of a distant town in the upper right and a plain on which the governor's palanquin, army, standard bearers, and elephants have come to rest. Opaque watercolor on paper Deccani School Mughal dynasty 17th Century (late) Trustees of the British Museum