The Death of Inayat Khan
| Support Type: | Paper |
| Paint Type: | Gouache |
| Current Location: | Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. |
| Location History: | 1618 (Origin): Commissioned and painted within the Mughal Empire's royal atelier at the imperial court city of Agra, India. 1 File:The Death of Inayat Khan (Bod MS. Ouseley Add. 171b f. 4r).jpg - Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons - Wikimedia.org17th to 18th Century: Part of the imperial Mughal library collections, bound inside royal albums. It contains an official authentication inscription written directly in the handwriting of Emperor Shah Jahan ("a picture of Inayat Khan, the work of Balchand").1844: Formally entered the collection of the Bodleian Library in Oxford via the acquisition of the historic Ouseley collection of Oriental and Persianate manuscripts (Sir Gore Ouseley collection). |
This painting is just incredibly heavy to look at, honestly. It shows a man, Inayat Khan, who is close to death, and the whole scene just feels so quiet and heavy. He is leaning back against this massive pile of cushions, but his body looks totally worn out, almost like a skeleton. You can see his ribs pushing right against his skin, and his chest is so hollowed out. It is pretty striking how his dark jacket is left wide open, just completely showing off how thin and weak he has become from opium addiction. He is wearing this small cap on his head, and his face looks completely exhausted, his eyes wide open, just staring out into the blank space, sort of lost in his own mind. The colors around him are actually kind of bright, which makes the whole thing even more sad, I think. He’s got these vibrant orange trousers on, and there’s a bright yellow pillow right next to him. Then there are these bigger, darker cushions behind him—red and black and blue—propping him up on this white bed. It is strange how the background is so simple and plain. The walls are just flat, gray panels with a couple of tiny, blurry sketches of bottles or vases up top, which makes the whole room feel completely empty. There is a small decorative border on the right side, but mostly, it’s just bare. What really gets you is the contrast. You have all these plush, heavy, comfortable pillows, but the man resting on them is entirely broken down. His hands are resting limply on his lap, and his legs are stretched out towards this big white bolster pillow at the end of the bed. There is a real sense of slowness to the whole piece, like the artist wanted to capture the exact moment where life is just slipping away. It’s a very raw, deeply uncomfortable look at a person’s last moments, done with a kind of honesty that makes it hard to look away.