Nur Jahan holding a portrait of Emperor Jahangir (c. 1627): Art, History and Details

Nur Jahan holding a portrait of Emperor Jahangir (c. 1627) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

A woman identified as the favorite wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (reigned 1605–27) holds a formal portrait of her husband. He appears aged with graying facial hair behind the jharokha carpet that marks imperial presence. This painting may be modeled on a work depicting Jahangir holding a portrait of his deceased father, showing himself to be the legitimate successor. Nur Jahan, who handled most of the affairs of state, hoped to remain in power after his death. She is depicted in her idealized youth, since she would have been 50 years old when Jahangir died.

Object facts

• Title: Nur Jahan holding a portrait of Emperor Jahangir
• Date: c. 1627
• Culture: Mughal India
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Painting only: 13.6 x 6.4 cm (5 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Page: 30 x 22.1 cm (11 13/16 x 8 11/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Mughal
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2013.325

A detail from the museum

Jahangir died at 58, outliving his younger brothers by about 25 years.

Collection credit

Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beach, Milo Cleveland, Stuart Cary Welch, and Glenn D. Lowry. The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India, 1600-1660. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1978.
• Vaughan, Philippa. "Begams of the House of Timur and the Dynastic Image." In Humayun's Garden Party: Princes of the House of Timur and Early Mughal Painting, 117–134. Edited by Sheila R. Canby. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1994.
• Komaroff, Linda, and Sheila Blair. Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2011.

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.