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2026-01-20T03:50:53Z

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{{Short description|Mughal miniature by Bichitr, c. 1615–1618}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image = Bichitr - Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings, from the St. Petersburg album - Google Art Project.jpg
| artist = [[Bichitr]]
| year = {{circa|1615|1618}}
| medium = Gouache, gold and ink on paper
| movement = [[Mughal miniature]]
| subject = {{ubl
|[[Jahangir]]
|[[Shah Hussain]]
|[[Ahmed I]]
|[[James VI and I]]
|Bichitr
}}
| museum = [[Freer Gallery of Art]]
}}

'''''Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings''''' is a [[Mughal painting|Mughal]] [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]] painting by the Indian artist [[Bichitr]] for the court of the Fourth [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Jahangir]], dated to {{circa|1615–1618}}.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Weekes |first=Ursula |date=2018-04-05 |title=A closer look at Mughal Emperor Jahangir depicted on the hourglass throne |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/closer-look-mughal-emperor-jahangir-depicted-hourglass-throne/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421152337/https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/closer-look-mughal-emperor-jahangir-depicted-hourglass-throne/ |archive-date=2024-04-21 |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=[[British Academy]]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Smee |first=Sebastian |date=2021-03-03 |title=A Mughal masterpiece |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2021/bichitr-jahangir-sufi-shaikh-kings/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728022644/https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2021/bichitr-jahangir-sufi-shaikh-kings/ |archive-date=2024-07-28 |access-date=2024-12-08 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Jyotsna G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvfuydFcy1MC |title=A Companion to the Global Renaissance: English Literature and Culture in the Era of Expansion |date=2013-02-26 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-65122-3 |pages=124 |language=en}}</ref> It is situated in the [[Freer Gallery of Art]].

It depicts the emperor, seated upon a throne in the form of an hourglass, handing a book to a Sufi saint, while the Ottoman sultan and the king of England look on. The artist Bichitr himself is pictured in the bottom-left corner of the image, in a [[Self-insertion|self-insert]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" />

== Description ==
[[File:Details_of_the_self-portrait_of_Bichitr_(close-up_of_the_Mughal_miniature_painting_"Jahangir_preferring_a_Sufi_Shaikh_to_Kings",_c._1615-18).png|thumb|Details of the self-portrait of [[Bichitr]]|left]]
[[File:Detail of Ottoman Sultan and James I (close-up of the Mughal miniature painting "Jahangir preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings", c. 1615-18).png|thumb|The depiction of the Ottoman sultan and James VI and I.|left]]
The emperor [[Jahangir]] is depicted wearing a [[Jama (coat)|''jama'']], with a [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]] around his face combining the imagery of the sun and the crescent moon. He is slightly larger than the other figures, in accordance with [[hierarchical proportion]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Folsach |first1=Kjeld von |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nPZdswEACAAJ |title=The Human Figure in Islamic Art: Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners |last2=Meyer |first2=Joachim |last3=samling |first3=C. L. Davids fond og |date=2017 |publisher=David Collection |isbn=978-87-92949-96-7 |pages=37 |language=en}}</ref> Thus, creating a sense of divinity and presenting the emperor with his status of ruler.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |last=Kapadia |first=Roshna |title=Bichitr, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings |url=https://smarthistory.org/bichtir-jahangir-preferring-a-sufi-shaikh-to-kings/ |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=Smarthistory |language=en}}</ref> Jahangir is wearing a larger turban on his head, which is smoother than the other turbans, to make him stand out from the others in the Mughal court.<ref name=":22">{{Citation |last=Chida-Razvi |first=Mehreen |title=A Sultan before the Padshah? Questioning the Identification of the Turbaned Figure in Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaykh to Kings |date=2016 |work=Art Trade and Culture |pages=205–214 |editor-last=Ohta |editor-first=Alison |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.5076274.22 |access-date=2025-12-04 |series=From the Fatimids to the Mughals |publisher=Gingko |doi=10.2307/jj.5076274.22 |editor2-last=Rogers |editor2-first=J.M. |editor3-last=Haddon |editor3-first=Rosalind Wade|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

He is seated on a throne shaped like a European [[hourglass]]. The hourglass can be interpreted as a reference to the second [[Islamic calendar|Islamic]] millennium, which began in 1591-2, some time before Jahangir's accession to the throne in 1605. On the hourglass, a Persian inscription reads, "God is great. O [[Shah]], may the span of your reign be a thousand years". This might indicate that the painting was presented to the emperor on his birthday.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Goswamy |first=B. N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-rfrQEACAAJ |title=The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works, 1100-1900 |date=2014 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-670-08657-3 |pages=322−325 |language=en}}</ref> The inscriptions contained in the margins above and below Jahangir within the [[Cartouche|cartouches]] convey the message that the emperor prefers gathering with holy men compared to visits from a court of kings. This is also represented in the depiction of Jahangir giving attention to saint Hussain and ignoring the artist Bichitr presenting the emperor with his painting.<ref name=":03" />

Jahangir is seen offering a book to a bearded [[Sufism|Sufi]] saint. The depicted saint is Shaikh Husain from the Indian Sufi Chishti sect started by [[Mu'in al-Din Chishti|Mu'in al-din Christi]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Kavita |title=Real Birds in Imagined Gardens: Mughal Painting between Persia and Europe |date=2017-03-17 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=9781606065181}}</ref> The other men before him in order are the Ottoman [[sultan]], the king of England and Scotland [[James VI and I]], and then the artist [[Bichitr]] himself. In accordance with [[hierarchical proportion]], it can be interpreted as Jahangir preferring Shaikh Hussain over fellow rulers.<ref name=":1" />

The depiction of the unknown Ottoman sultan, which seems to be a general type rather than any specific portrait, draws from a work by [[Giovanni Bellini]]. The sultan wears green clothing with embroidered gold with pink lining on his over his arm, and a white turban. The style of turban worn by the Ottoman sultan is known as a [[Turban|Kavuk]] turban which is an Ottoman imperial turban. His hands are held out in a respectful manner towards Jahangir.

The depiction of James VI and I is taken from a work by [[John de Critz]], brought to India by the English ambassador [[Thomas Roe]]. James VI wears European style attire; a pink cloak along with a white dress shirt, a ruff, a grey hat with feathers and jewelry. He faces away from Jahangir and towards the viewer with a hand near a decorated sword on his waist.

In the bottom-left corner of the image is the artist Bichitr. He is portrayed wearing a Hindu-styled robe, and holding up a painting. [[Stuart Cary Welch|Stuart C. Welch]] interprets this painting to be of Bichitr himself bowing to the emperor. This self-insertion as a sort of signature, became a custom in Mughal painting in the coming years.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Beach |first=Milo Cleveland |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.25950/page/167/mode/2up |title=The imperial image: paintings for the Mughal court |date=1981 |publisher=Freer Gallery of Art, Washington |pages=168–169}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

The painting signifies Jahangir's reverence towards the saint, spurning the great monarchs vying for his audience. Bichitr’s painting being offered is seen as more than a simple picture or gift. Rather, it presents Bichitr as a prophet who exposes the hidden truth about divine order. <ref name=":1" /> Even his love for art fails to distract him from the spiritual, as even the artist Bichitr in the bottom-left fails to get his attention. Its dating coincides with the period when he shifted the capital to the holy city of [[Ajmer]] from 1613 to 1616.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

A Venetian-styled carpet constitutes the lower half of the background, while the upper half is sky blue. Four [[Putto|putti]] are seen in the picture. Two of them are at the bottom of the hourglass, gathering the sand which has fallen into the bottom half, while two are flying in the background.<ref name=":0" />

Two Persian couplets are inscribed above and below the painting, reading, "By the grace of God is he truly a king both in form and spirit: the Shah Nur-ud Din Jahangir, son of ''Padshah'' [[Akbar]]; To all appearances, even as kings and potentates stand in attendance upon him, his gaze falls, inwardly, ever upon holy [[dervish]]es." These couplets, along with the border, are later additions.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

The angel's motifs add to the heavenly aura that Jahngir is depicted in inclusive of the halo. With 2 angels at the base, and 2 angels at the top with bows representing cupid like child angels., similar to European [[putto]]. With Jahangir wearing a christian cross as a show of the Mughals leaders extension of power and diplomacy beyond his own religion, blending Persian and European traditions. The hourglass shows Jahangir assumption of the throne at the turn of the millennium, with the angels writing Persian text at the bottom.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Collection of the Smithsonian Institution]]
[[Category:Islamic illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:James VI and I]]
[[Category:Paintings by Bichitr]]
[[Category:Miniature painting]]
[[Category:Indian artefacts held abroad]]

Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings - Revision history

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