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| Title | A Mughal officer listening to a singer | |
| Collection | Artworld: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts | |
| Date | 1650-1675 CE | |
| Description | An 'amir' (officer), with a flowing moustache, sits against a cushion smoking a spherical bidri 'huqqa'. He is dressed in a flowered 'jama' with a gold turban and sash, and rests his left arm upon his shield, which bears the device of a golden sun. Between the 'amir' and the white-clad singer who performs for him with the aid of a 'tambura' (lute-like instrument), is a square fish-pool containing a fountain, rendered flat without perspectival regression . The servant standing in attendance at the right holds a cloth purse and a peacock-feather fly-whisk. All three figures are shaded by a grapevine growing over a red trellis. The surface of the picture is rubbed, particularly near the right and left edges. | |
| Description Source | Robert Skelton. In: Steven Hooper (ed.). 1997. Catalogue to the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection. University of East Anglia. | |
| Cultural Context | Indian | |
| Id Number Current Accession | 538 | |
| Inscription | painted on Back | |
| Location Creation Site | Bharat, Central India (or North Deccan?) | |
| Location Current Repository | Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts | |
| Subject | visual work, painting, miniature | |
| Measurements | 270 x 184 x 1 mm | |
| Context | On the reverse is the Datia state seal and a deleted 'devanagari' inscription, which can be read as: 'sri barai divann sahib-ji.' Not too much credence can be placed on this scratched-out inscription identifying the main figure as a 'bara diwan' or principal revenue officer. It seems equally possible that he is one of the Mughal 'Faujdars' in charge of a district. | |
| Context Source | Robert Skelton. In: Steven Hooper (ed.). 1997. Catalogue to the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection. University of East Anglia. | |
| Rights | Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UEA, Norwich, 2002. All Rights reserved | |
| Work Type | painting | |