Princes of the House of Timur

This is the earliest known example of a Mughal painting, which has been described by J.M. Rogers as 'a variety of Islamic painting practised in India principally in the 16th and 17th centuries'. The painting is in colours and gold on fine cotton fabric. What has survived of the picture depicts a ruler seated in a garden pavilion and wearing Central Asian dress. He is flanked by two servants and faces a visitor. To either side of him are courtiers and nobles and, in the background, servants. The missing foreground probably depicted dancers and musicians performing a courtly entertainment. The central figure is believed to be Humayun (1508-56), the second Mughal Emperor; many of the heads were repainted to depict later Mughal rulers, creating a genealogical scene.