Prince Salīm at an Audience Window Leaf from the Read Mughal Album Mughal Late 18th century, with border dated 1749–50 415 x 299 mm Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1911 MS M.458.12 Item description: This portrait of the Mughal emperor Salīm, who took the name Jahāngir (World-Seizer) when he ascended the throne (r. 1605–27), originally faced that of his father, Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605), shown on the right, when it was mounted in the album (see MS M.458.24). The rhyming couplet in the cartouche above Salīm, which ends with a date (1749–50), continues the one below Akbar. Both men have haloes, are shown at audience windows (jharokas), and were painted by the same artist. The portraits are applied to a type of elaborate border used for the opening pages of a manuscript (sarlauḥ). Indeed, as the leaf is numbered 1, these facing pages originally formed the opening of the Read Mughal album.

Mughal-Library