Pilgrims Around the Ka‘bah

Location: Mughal India

Materials: ink, watercolours and gold on paper; painting set into pale green and cobalt blue borders, and mounted on thick, pink card; original text area covered by gold-painted paper; reverse blank

Dimensions: 27 x 17cm (painting); 37 x 25.5cm (mount)

Accession Number: MSS 569

Script:

It has not been possible to identify the manuscript from which this painting comes, as the original text panels have been covered by gold-painted paper, and the folio mounted on thick card. However, it is very likely that it comes from a manuscript of religious history.
The depiction of the Ka‘bah is rare in Mughal art. On the few occasions when it is depicted in the early Mughal era, the structure itself is uniformly shaped but its scale varies from being waist-high to extending over the heads of depicted figures as it does here.