Sultan Ibrahim ibn Adham of Balkh Visited by Angels (c. 1740): Art, History and Details

Sultan Ibrahim ibn Adham of Balkh Visited by Angels (c. 1740) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Sultan Ibrahim ibn Adham was the King of Balkh in present-day Afghanistan, born around 730, but later abdicated his throne to take up ascetic life in Syria. Sufi legends claim that Ibrahim in the wilderness was fed by angels. In the painting, Ibrahim can be seen in a cave and meditating under a tree, while five angles appear in front of him.

Object facts

• Title: Sultan Ibrahim ibn Adham of Balkh Visited by Angels
• Date: c. 1740
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bundi
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 24.2 x 32.8 cm (9 1/2 x 12 15/16 in.); Miniature: 17.2 x 25.7 cm (6 3/4 x 10 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.160

A detail from the museum

Two of the angels bring bottles of wine.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

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.