Circumcision ceremony for Akbar’s sons, painting 126 from an Akbar-nama (Book of Akbar) of Abu’l Fazl (Indian, 1551–1602)
Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
image: 22.9 × 12.1 cm · sheet with border: 34.7 × 22.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Accession Number
1971.76
Tags
About this artwork
This page is from a copy of the biography of Akbar that was completed not long before his death in 1605. It depicts him much younger, during the festivities held on October 22, 1573, in his newly built capital city of Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra, on the occasion of the circumcision ceremony for his three young sons. Dancers in Chaghatai Turkish dress perform as Akbar’s weight in gold is being distributed to the poor. Akbar wears a simple white tunic, or jama, stained at the armpits by aromatic mus...