Shah Abbas receiving the Mughal ambassador Khan’Alam in 1618
17th century
- Classification
- Painting
- Museum
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit line
- alexisrenard.com British Museum version
- Rights
- Public domain, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
This painting is depicting Shah Abbas receiving the Mughal ambassador Khan ‘ Alam in 1618. Shah Abbas sits to the right of the composition in the middle of a hilly landscape offering a gold wine cup to the Mughal ambassador. Their suite composed by dignitaries, musicians and pages surrounds them.
A nasta’liq inscription identifying the scene has been rubbed at the bottom of the painting.
A closely related painting of a later date is kept in the collection of the British Museum and published in: Canby, S. (2009) Shah ‘Abbas – The Remaking of Iran, London: The British Museum Press, p. 63.
Our painting might be the prototype for the British Museum’s painting.
Another painting related in the treatment of the composition and the figures, recently acquired by the Custodia Foundation, is ascribed to the painter Farhad (Inv. 2009-T.23).
