Shah Abuʾl-Maʿali , Mir Sayyid ʿAli, and the Sayyids of Tirmiz: Three Portraits Challenge Akbari Historiography

Abstract

This essay closely examines three early Mughal portraits—the Portrait of Shah Abuʾl-Maʿali, Portrait of Mir Musavvir, and an alleged self-portrait of Mir Sayyid ʿAli—as well as a seal impression from an early sixteenth-century copy of Jamal al-Din Husayni Shirazi’s Rawżat al-Aḥbāb. The resulting scenario challenges certain scholarly assumptions that are based on a blind acceptance of the narrative contained in official Mughal sources. The analysis serves to substantiate and articulate evidence on the role of Central Asian elites (more specifically, religious elites) in the early Mughal period. It also contributes to the socio-historical contextualization of Mughal paintings on the basis of the inscriptions contained in them and stimulates further discussion on the origins of Mughal portraiture.