Portrait of Tansen
Artist
Unknown
CultureIndian
Dateca. 1580
MediumOpaque watercolor on paper
DimensionsOverall, Image: 5 3/8 x 2 3/4 in. (13.7 x 7 cm)
Overall, Mat: 14 1/4 x 19 1/4 in. (36.2 x 48.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 20 3/4 × 15 1/4 × 7/8 in. (52.7 × 38.7 × 2.2 cm)
Overall, Mat: 14 1/4 x 19 1/4 in. (36.2 x 48.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 20 3/4 × 15 1/4 × 7/8 in. (52.7 × 38.7 × 2.2 cm)
InscribedWritten across foot of skirt, in Persian: "shabih-i tansen".
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number58.27.20
Not on view
DescriptionMiniature of opaque watercolor on paper depicting Tansen, a musician of the court of Akbar, 1556-1605.Label TextPortrait of Tansen, ca. 1580 Indian Watercolor on paper, 5 3/8 x 2 3/4 in. (13.7 x 7 cm) Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA Museum purchase 58.27.20Exhibition HistoryExhibited Norfolk Museum, Gallery "H", February 1958. "Akbar's India: Art from the Mughal City of Victory", The Asia Society Galleries, New York, October 10, 1985 - January 5, 1986; Harvard University Art Museums (Arthur M. Sackler Museum), Cambridge, MA, January 24 - March 16, 1986; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, April 19 - June 15, 1986.Published ReferencesBonnie C. Wade, IMAGING SOUND AN ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL STUDY OF MUSIC, ART, AND CULTURE IN MUGHAL INDIA, (Chicago,ILL: The University of Chicago Press, 1998) 110-111, ill. Fig. 70. Michael Brand and Glenn D. Lowry, AKBAR'S INDIA: ART FROM THE MUGHAL CITY OF VICTORY (NY: The Asia Society Galleries, 1985), Fig. 55, p. 83; No. 55, p. 150.
