Jahangir Holding a Portrait of Akbar

In Abu'l Hasan's miniature, the Mughal emperor Jahangir holds a small circular portrait of his dead father Akbar. The circular portrait is a real object Jahangir would have owned. It is also a vision. The art historian Asok Das argued the painting commemorates a specific dream Jahangir had, in which Akbar appeared and interceded on behalf of an accused nobleman named Mirza Aziz Kokaltash. Jahangir is not looking at a portrait. He is looking at a father who has come back. Jahangir loved his court painter so much he gave him the title Nadir al-Zaman: Wonder of the Age. Now at Musée Guimet, Paris @museeguimet