Painting

This illustration had been removed from a manuscript of the Baburnama ('Book of Babur') before the museum acquired it in on the London art market in 1913. The manuscript was a copy of the Persian translation of the memoirs of Babur (r. 1526-1530), the founder of the Mughal empire. He wrote in his primary language, eastern Turkish, and the translation was commissioned by his grandson, the Mughal emperor Akbar, so that the contents could be widely read in the empire. The translator, Mirza Abdu'r Rahim, was the Khan-i khanan or Prime Minister, and completed his work in AH 998/AD1589. He presented it to Akbar on the emperor's return to Agra from Kabul on 24 November 1589. Multiple copies of his text were made. The illustrated volume to which this painting originally belonged is regarded as having been done in Akbar's painting atelier, the Ketab khana or 'House of Books', and to date to about 1590. At least seven illustrated copies of the Baburnama have survived, datable to between 1589 and the end of Akbar's life in 1605.