Sultan Murad and a Consort

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed here to Manohar (active 1582–ca. 1624)

• Court

  Mughal Court

• School/Tradition

  Mughal school

• Label

  This image is an unusually intimate portrait of royal lovers reclining in a garden setting. It portrays Prince Murad, the intellectually inclined second son of Mughal emperor Akbar, together with his beloved young wife, Mirza, daughter of Akbar's foster brother. Since Mughal artists aimed for verisimilitude, we may assume that Mirza was a dark-haired, slender figure with a sharp nose and pointed chin. However, the seclusion of women within the zenana (women's chambers) suggests that the artist may have based his portrait on verbal descriptions.

• Provenance

  To 1929

  Kirkor Minassian, New York to 1929 [1]

  From 1929

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Kirkor Minassian, New York in 1929 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Object file, undated folder sheet note.

  [2] See note 1. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Body Image (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art (February 24 to May 13, 2007)

  Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)

  Female Imagery in Indian Painting (February 9 to August 5, 1996)

  South and South East Asian Art (May 9, 1993 to February 7, 2000)

  The Arts of South Asia (May 13, 1985 to December 2, 1985)

  The Imperial Image: Painting for the Mughal Court (September 25, 1981 to 30 March 1982)

  Indian Art (January 1, 1963 to January 28, 1981)

  Untitled Exhibition, South Asian Art, Gallery 8 (July 15, 1958 to January 1, 1963)

  Centennial Exhibition, West Corridor (February 25, 1956 to July 11, 1958)

  Untitled Exhibition, South Asian Painting, 1955 (October 24, 1955 to November 28, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Mughal Painting, 1947 (April 23 to September 30, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, South Asian Paintings and Sculpture (October 2, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Mughal Painting (December 20, 1944 to April 23, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, South Asian Paintings, Gallery 4 (May 5, 1933 to January 9, 1945)

  Near Eastern Pottery and Persian Painting (May 2, 1923 to March 14, 1931)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944)

• Origin

  India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

  This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1590s, 1600s

• Name

  Minassian, Kirkor

• Place

  India

• Topic

  Lovers, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858), Reign of Akbar (1556 - 1605)

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings