Portrait of the celebrated court musician Tansen (circa 1493-1589)
Mughal India, circa 1590
Opaque colours with gold on paper, laid down in an ivory-ground cropped album page decorated with gilt floral motifs, ink inscriptions in German on the verso; with a small associated label, in ink on wasli paper, inscribed with the name of Tansen in Devanagari and nastal’iq
6 3/5 by 3 in.; 16.7 by 7.8 cm. painting
9 2/3 by 6 1/3 in.; 24.6 by 16.1 cm. folio
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Germany, 1970s-2025
Deceased’s estate 2025, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
INSCRIPTIONS
The associated paper fragment is inscribed in Devanagari and in nastal’iq:
‘Mian Tan Sen’
More than four late sixteenth century Mughal portraits of Tansen are known (see below) and in each the physiognomy of Tansen is distinct. The current, newly discovered, portrait confirms to this and leaves little or no doubt as to its identity, the associated inscription apart. As in the other portraits he is depicted standing on a green ground, in profile, his dark-skinned face with solemn expression, slender moustache and cleft chin. He wears the typical striped cotton Akbar-period flat turban secured with a gold brocade band, a gold ring in his left ear. He wears a diaphanous fine muslin jama on his upper body with an odhni over his chest, arms and shoulder whilst his lower body is enclosed in a voluminous paijama with diaphanous over-skirt and gold brocade patka. He wears a pair of gold shoes, two strings of pearls and holds a pearl rosary in his right hand behind which is a katar dagger.
Tansen of Gwalior
Tansen Kalawant was born into a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family in Gwalior. His first patron is thought to have been the Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior after which, as an adult, he became court musician to Raja Ramchandra Singh Beghel (r.1555-92) of Rewa. His early influences were drawn from both the Muslim Sufi and Hindu traditions but the poet and court musician to Raja Man Singh Tomar, Swami Haridas, is thought to have been his main teacher.
Tansen was an accomplished composer, musician and vocalist and thus his fame spread.
In the Akbarnama, Abul Fazl records that when the emperor heard of the talent of Tansen, who was then sixty, he was brought to the court in 1562 and became a favourite of the emperor. Akbar gave him the title of Mian, an honorific meaning learned man, and he also made him one of the Navaratnas, his nine main ministers or literally ‘nine jewels’. Emperor Jahangir was also enthralled by the voice of Tansen and records in his memoires that “there has been no singer like him in any time or age”.