Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting

Portrait of Genghis Khan

Unknown Yuan court painter

An official Yuan-dynasty court portrait of Genghis Khan, painted for the imperial album of his descendants.

The standard official portrait of Genghis Khan, created generations after his death by the dynasty he founded.

Ask Genghis Khan about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Painted portrait of a bearded man with a pale white head covering and a light cream robe against a muted sage-green background. He has a long, thin white beard and a mustache, and a small silver earring.
Portrait of Genghis Khan (Taizu), from a Yuan dynasty imperial album.

About this source

What it is

This painted portrait shows a bearded man in a pale robe, part of an album of imperial portraits produced for the Yuan court founded by Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan. It is the standard image used to represent Genghis Khan (known in Chinese as Taizu) today.

Why it matters

The portrait was not made from life but created generations later by the dynasty he founded, to present an approved image of its ancestor. It shows how Genghis Khan's descendants wanted him to be remembered: dignified and imperial, rather than as a steppe warrior.

Look closer

  • Since no one painted Genghis Khan during his lifetime, what choices did the Yuan court artist have to make?
  • What does the calm, formal style of the portrait suggest about how the Mongols wanted to present their founder to a Chinese audience?
  • How might this image differ from how Genghis Khan actually looked or lived?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Genghis Khan on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Genghis Khan sources

Meet the AI Genghis Khan →
Page of a 1908 Chinese edition of the Secret History of the Mongols, printed in vertical columns of Chinese characters transcribing Mongolian text, with smaller interlinear glosses in Chinese beside them. Some characters are bracketed and marked with small annotations.Book

Secondary source

The Secret History of the Mongols

c. 1228 (completed after 1227)

Painted manuscript frontispiece in gold, blue and green tones: on the left a seated bearded man in blue robes writes beside a flowering tree, while a standing figure in gold-patterned robes gestures toward it. On the right a white horse with a blue gold-decorated saddle cloth stands above a small seated figure, with stylized clouds and a bird-like motif above.Book

Secondary source

Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini

Ata-Malik Juvayni

Manuscript page in Persian nastaliq script with an ornate gold-and-blue illuminated Bismillah heading at top, red-ruled borders, a marginal note in gold, and a round seal stamp in the margin on the right. Adjacent page edge visible at left.Book

Secondary source

Jami' al-tawarikh

Rashid al-Din Hamadani · c. 1400 (manuscript copy)

A tall, arch-topped grey stone stele standing upright in a display case against a dark blue background, with several vertical columns of carved inscription in an old script. A blue label sits at the bottom of the display.Artifact

Primary source

Stele of Genghis Khan

c. 1224-1225

Red impression of a seal in vertical columns of stylized, angular Mongolian-script characters on a white background, with a red frame border along the edges.Letter

Primary source

Cum non solum

Pope Innocent IV · 13 March 1245

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Genghis Khan now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions