- Title
- Illustration of an Allegorical Tale (?)
- Date Made
- circa 1850
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (23.5 x 16.51 cm); Sheet: 12 x 10 1/4 in. (30.48 x 26.04 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1999.127.15
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Although a specific event or literary source has not been conclusively identified, it has been suggested that this painting depicts the shepherd Joseph, a prophet mentioned in the Qur’an who corresponds to Joseph (son of Jacob and Rachel) in the Bible’s Book of Genesis. Regardless of the specific subject, this late Mughal painting should be contextualized within the literary and artistic renaissance of mid-19th century South Asia. The devastating invasions, political coups, and ineffectual emperors in the late 18th and early 19th centuries had led to the collapse of a central Mughal power. These dire events inspired a reinterpretation of Persian literature that imbued traditional symbols with a sense of melancholy and a nostalgia for the stability and grandeur associated with the Mughal dynasty at its zenith.
Here, a young nobleman in a sumptuous coat (perhaps Joseph’s legendary variegated coat) is shown herding a ram that has stopped to graze. A soldier observes the pastoral incident and brandishes his spear. A bearded scholar appears to be disdainfully ignoring the scene while drinking wine. The diminishing perspective, distant cityscapes, and gradated atmospheric treatment were assimilated into the Mughal visual vocabulary from European prints and paintings that were presented to the court as early as the mid-16th century.
