Babur Receives his Brother, Jahangir Mirza, in the Hammam of Akhsi, from a dispersed manuscript of Book of Babur (Baburnameh) North India, ca. 1590 CE, Opaque watercolour and gold on paper, On loan from the Royal Ontario Museum, 976.306.1

Babur Receives his Brother, Jahangir Mirza, in the Hammam of Akhsi, from a dispersed manuscript of Book of Babur (Baburnameh) North India, ca. 1590 CE, Opaque watercolour and gold on paper, On loan from the Royal Ontario Museum, 976.306.1

This exquisite page comes from the autobiographical Baburnameh, in which Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, descendant of Genghis Khan and founder of the Mughal Empire, describes his many travels, victories, and losses. In this scene, the 19-year-old Babur confers with his younger half-brother as they plot their next military actions while having a hot bath in the heavily armed citadel of Akhsi. The Baburnameh, originally written in Babur's own Chagatai Turkish, was translated into Persian during the reign of his grandson Akbar the Great.

Emperor Babur

Royal Ontario Museum

ca.1590 CE

Photographer credit: Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum

Royal Ontario Museum

Dimensions: 42.9 x 27.7 cm (Frame dimensions: H 23" x L 17" x D 1 1/4")

Materials: Opaque watercolour and gold on paper

ROM 976.306.1

North India