On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Muslim Nobleman
Not on view
The imperial Mughal vogue for naturalistic profile portraits was widely emulated in the Hindu courts, where many rulers willingly followed metropolitan fashions. This bearded man of rank, likely a Muslim serving at a Rajput court, displays in his attire and demeanor two features that would have defined him as a man of character. He holds in his raised hand a rosebud to savor its fragrance, an iconographic representation of a man of refined sensibilities, and wears an archer’s ring of green jadeite on his thumb in the Mughal manner, signaling that he is also a man of action. This message is strengthened by the green turban with a dark plumage ornament (sarpech), appropriate to a hunting expedition. The treatment suggests that this was a study from life, even if we can sense the painter’s underlying urge to idealize his subject.
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