Circumcision ceremony for Akbar’s sons, painting 126 from an Akbar-nama (Book of Akbar) of Abu’l Fazl (Indian, 1551–1602)

c. 1602–3

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attributed to Dharam Das

(Indian, active c. 1580–1605)

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Image: 22.9 x 12.1 cm (9 x 4 3/4 in.); Sheet with border: 34.7 x 22.5 cm (13 11/16 x 8 7/8 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1971.76

Location: not on view

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An attendant strokes Akbar’s hunting falcon, perched on a glove.

Description

This page is from a copy of the biography of Akbar that was completed not long before his death in 1605. It depicts him much younger, during the festivities held on October 22, 1573, in his newly built capital city of Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra, on the occasion of the circumcision ceremony for his three young sons. Dancers in Chaghatai Turkish dress perform as Akbar’s weight in gold is being distributed to the poor. Akbar wears a simple white tunic, or jama, stained at the armpits by aromatic musk. A curved dagger in a red velvet sheath is tucked into his golden sash, and he is crowned with a white crested turban.