A Mullah Seated With Mughal Princesses

Project Details

A Mullah Seated With Mughal Princesses

Lucknow
Circa 1780
Dimensions: 40 x 28.8 cm.

Gouache on paper heightened with gold, blue border with white margin rules. A mullah seated in discussion with two Mughal princesses on a terrace. The mullah dressed in white writing in a text, both princesses adorned with pearls and jewels and wearing turbans decorated with jewels and an aigrette, their floral fur-trimmed brocade jamas over long robes. Two female attendants kneeling in the foreground.

Patronage of the arts flourished at Lucknow under Nawab Asaf ud-Daula, the ruler of Lucknow between 1775 and 1797. Although as a ruler, Asaf ud -Daula had little real political power, owing to the tight grip of the British at this time, impressive monuments were built including a great mosque and lavish palaces during his reign in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The thriving cosmopolitan community of Lucknow, where there was no jizya (an abolished poll-tax on non-Muslims), welcomed Europeans, native artists and calligraphers; particularly those from Delhi who sought studios away from the declining Mughal court. Terrace scenes in a traditional Mughal style, were particularly popular during the eighteenth century and this charming depiction of a Muslim mullah with his young disciples is such an example, illustrating well how painting thrived at Lucknow under Asaf ud-Daula.

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A Mullah Seated With Mughal Princesses

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