Madonna and child, folio from the Salim Album

Madonna and child, folio from the Salim Album. This tinted drawing (nim qalam) shows the artist referring to at least two separate Christian compositions, probably from a European print source. On the left is the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, and below them a woman washes a man's foot, echoing the repentant Mary Magdalene anointing the feet of Jesus. The seated man holds a t-shaped (tau) cross, which suggests another iconographic source. The framing Persian poem refers to romantic love: "I have become dust under your feet: perhaps you will place your foot on my head". The Salim Album refers to a group of thirty (known) folios, today dispersed in international collections. These were once part of a small album of paintings and calligraphy, assembled for the Mughal prince Salim (who from 1605 would reign as the emperor Jahangir), probably during the brief years (1600-1604) that he spent in his own court at Allahabad. Eight of these folios are in the Chester Beatty. Although many have been trimmed down, the surviving Salim Album folios share a similar border scheme, of distinctive gold-painted geometric, cloud collar and floral motifs. The art collection mounted in the prince's album deals mainly with single or paired figures, framed by couplets of Persian poetry: these are contemporary court portraits, small compositions adapted from European print media, or studies of spiritual figures. Folio, ink, colours and gold on paper, mounted on gold-painted card, tinted drawing (nim qalam) of the Madonna and child (left) beside the figures of Mary Magdalene anointing Christ's feet, Persian verses in nasta`liq script, folio from the Salim Album, assembled Allahabad, India, c. 1600-1605.