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A Ruler Presents a Document to Visiting Nobles

c. 1700–1720

Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: Overall: 22 x 32.7 cm (8 11/16 x 12 7/8 in.)
Culture: Mughal India, Deccan
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

About this work

Many carpets produced in the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent feature a tone-on-tone mustard-yellow color scheme with lattice design. It demarcates the space of honor for the highest-ranking members of the refined gathering of literary connoisseurs. The figure facing right, with the peacock-feather whisk held over him, would be the host. He has a letter or poem in his hand. His guests have partaken of an aromatic betel-leaf packet (paan) and a rose from the dishes between them. Implements for writing and trimming paper lie on the carpet between a spittoon and courtly stabbing dagger (katar).