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): Art, History and Details

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) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Dharam Das (Indian, active c. 1580–1605).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Circumcision ceremony for Akbar’s sons, painting 126 from an Akbar-nama (Book of Akbar) of Abu’l Fazl (Indian, 1551–1602)
• Date: c. 1602–3
• Creator attribution: Dharam Das (Indian, active c. 1580–1605)
• Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: 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.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1971.76

A detail from the museum

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

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Welch, Stuart C. “Early Mughal Miniature Paintings from Two Private Collections Shown at the Fogg Art Museum.” Ars Orientalis, vol. 3, 1959, pp. 133–146.
• Welch, Stuart C. “Early Mughal Miniature Paintings from Two Private Collections Shown at the Fogg Art Museum.” Ars Orientalis, vol. 3, 1959, pp. 133–146.
• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.