c. 1595

Portrait of a Scholar

This delicate drawing, probably intended as a finished work, is most likely a copy or adaptation of one of the European engravings given to Emperor Akbar. Not only has the Mughal artist used a translucent wash to add roundness to the figures and drapery, but he has also borrowed the idea, if not the exact process, of European one-point perspective in the receding architecture and table. Other motifs, such as the cat at the lower right, are lifted directly from European prototypes.