King Dabshalim visits the sage in his cave, ascribed to Fazl, India, Mughal, circa 1605-10

This painting of a king visiting a sage depicts a scene from the Anvar-i Suhayli by Husayn Va'iz al-Kashifi that Akbar had re-written by Abu'l Fazl in a simpler version as Iyar-i Danish.

The artist Fazl was associated with the sub-Imperial patron Khan-i Khanan 'Abd al-Rahim Khan. Fazl produced a number of illustrations for 'Abd al-Rahim's Ramayana between 1589 and 1599 now in the Freer Gallery of Art and also contributed towards a dispersed Razmnama dated 1616. The majority of his works are inscribed 'amal-i Fazl ('work of Fazl') however this painting and a few from the first decade of the seventeenth century are just inscribed as Fazl (see Gahlin 1991, no.26, pl.24 and Colnaghi 1979, no.17.) The amal-i Fazl paintings are completed in a more sophisticated manner and it has been queried by Seyller (Seyller 1999 p.286) as to whether the artist could be the same as 'Abd al-Rahim's Fazl. However the name is unusual and the finish of a painting is often indicative of the time spent on it. Seyller documents that there was more pressure on 'Abd al-Rahim's artists to complete their paintings within a few days compared to the imperial artist who could take up to fifty days.