In this article
Bichitr
Why is James I in this painting?
The Smithsonian reads the scene as an assertion of Jahangir's preference for spiritual authority over worldly kings. [1] It identifies a Sufi shaykh, an Ottoman sultan and James I, with Bichitr's self-portrait in the lower left. [1]
The painting gives us two routes into that assertion. Follow the figures towards the offered book, then look below the throne at the patterned textile. Historian Sylvia Houghteling argues that the cloth's ornament takes part in the composition rather than simply decorating it. [2]
The Smithsonian catalogue identifies the central painting as Bichitr's work from about 1615-1618, made in opaque watercolour, ink and gold on paper. The image measures 25.3 × 18 cm. The larger bordered leaf measures 46.9 × 30.7 cm. Its accession number is F1942.15a. [3]
Bichitr
Follow the figures and the book
The shaykh beside the emperor
The book exchange. Detail from the Commons reproduction. [5]
The museum's interactive identifies the white-bearded figure as Shaykh Husain, associated with the Chishti shrine at Ajmer. Jahangir offers him a book. The museum connects that exchange with the respect accorded to books in Islam and at the Mughal court. [1]
Begin here when following the group. The emperor's exchange with the shaykh gives the other figures a relationship to something happening beside them. Their presence can be read through the attention directed towards the recipient of the book.
James I and the European portrait model
The Smithsonian suggests that James I's likeness was probably based on a portrait by John de Critz. It notes that the ambassador Thomas Roe brought European paintings as diplomatic gifts. [1]
Recognising a king does not establish that the scene records an occasion when he was present. Houghteling treats the gathering as a fictional arrangement of figures. [2]
Houghteling names the sultan as Bayazid I. [2] The Smithsonian's interactive calls him an Ottoman sultan without naming him. [1] Weekes discusses a model for the Ottoman sultan indirectly derived from Bellini. [4]
Bichitr holding another painting
The museum identifies the lowest figure as Bichitr's self-portrait. He holds a small painting with its own red border. The museum describes an elephant in that image and suggests that it may refer to an imperial reward to the artist. The proposed gift remains a possibility. [1]
This detail lets us look at a picture inside the picture. It also asks us to distinguish the figure's identification from the explanation of what he carries.
Look beneath the throne
The textile, hourglass and James. Detail from the Commons reproduction. [5]
Houghteling draws attention to the patterned textile behind the lower part of the group. She describes small torch-bearing torsos growing from curling vegetation and connects their narrow supports with the shape of the emperor's hourglass throne. In that discussion, she compares their gestures with James I's extended arm and spreading skirt. [2]
Use those comparisons as a looking task: first locate a figure in the textile, then move to the hourglass and James. The question is how a repeating pattern relates to the larger figures beside it. Houghteling's reading makes the ornament part of the work's argument, while leaving us free to examine the comparison ourselves.
Bichitr
What does the hourglass mean?
The museum's interactive describes the angels at the hourglass as writing a wish for Jahangir's life to last a thousand years. Ursula Weekes gives a translation referring to his reign, and reads the hourglass through the emperor's presentation of himself as a ruler of a new millennial era. [1][4]
Weekes also discusses how the painting combines borrowings from European art with other ways of presenting space and meaning. [4] Her discussion of the carpet treats its flat presentation as a deliberate artistic choice. It gives us a useful reason to avoid judging the painting solely by whether it resembles a window onto a continuous physical room. [4]
Weekes describes the hourglass as a real European goldsmith's object brought to the Mughal court, while reading Jahangir's position above it as a statement about time. [4]
Bichitr
The painting and its later border
The catalogue separates the central painting from the margins around it. Its current archive-host record attributes the margins to Muhammad Sadiq and dates them to 1747-48. The museum's interactive caption instead names Hadi and gives 1755-56. These are conflicting catalogue statements about the same leaf. [3][1]
The central image's date should therefore not be used for the whole bordered sheet. Nor should a border caption silently replace the object record. Keeping the painting and its margins distinct helps us read an album leaf whose parts have different histories, even while the attribution conflict remains unresolved.
Common questions
-
How large is it?
The central image is 25.3 x 18 cm. The bordered leaf is 46.9 x 30.7 cm. These measurements describe different parts of the object. [3]
-
Where is it held?
It belongs to the Freer collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, accession F1942.15a. Check the museum’s current visiting information before planning to see it. [3]