12 Indian Art THE GREAT MUGHALS


components in the arts of the


Opulence and style are key


Mughals T


he current exhibition in London explores the arts and culture of the Mughal period through the


artistic achievements of the ‘Golden Age’ of the Mughal court, circa 1560- 1660,


emperors: Jahangir


during the reigns of three Akbar (r 1556-1606), 1605-1627), and Shah


(r


Jahan (r 1628-1658). It highlights the international nature of the arts during this period with inspiration coming from Hindustan, Iran, as well as from the West. When Babur


(r 1526-1530), the


grandfather of Emperor Akbar, first set foot on the Indian subcontinent in 1519, it marked the beginning of the long period of Mughal rule over large parts of North India. Babur was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan through his maternal line and a descendant of Timur through his father. Te dynasty proudly claimed this ancestry to the Timurid dynasty and used it to emphasise their power, bringing prosperity and immense wealth to the land they conquered. Tis prosperity was partly generated by the country’s many natural resources, which also enabled them to be great patrons of the arts. Te dynasty created imperial workshops to produce paintings, jewellery, and luxury objects, as well to construct magnificent buildings such as the Taj Mahal in Agra. Due to extensive commerce with the


Western world during the 16th and 17th centuries, India became an important centre for the trade of all manner of goods considered luxurious in the West, including gemstones and other precious materials. During this period, the Mughal rulers created a demand for gems and jewellery for the Mughal court, using diamonds from Golconda, rubies from Burma, sapphires from Ceylon, emeralds from Colombia, pearls from the Gulf of Mannar and Basra, and jade from Khotan. Te desire for extraordinary gemstones and jewels extended beyond


Akbar handing the imperial crown to Shah Jahan in the presence of Jahangir, Bichitr, dated regnal year 3 (18 January 1630 to 7 January 1631), the borders circa 1630-1640, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, folio from the Minto Album, Chester Beatty, Dublin © CC BY


Arts, Vienna, and the ‘Ames Carpet’, circa 1590-1600, a woven carpet from the imperial workshops, on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and on display in the UK for the first time. Akbar established new imperial


workshops to manufacture these luxurious goods for the court, the most famous of which was the House of Books


manuscripts were both made


Shah Jahan as the King of the World by Bichitr, circa 1628-30, the borders probably circa 1640-50, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, folio from the Minto Album, Chester Beatty, Dublin © CC BY


material avarice for the Mughal rulers, it was also a manifestation of their power and control of the empire. Tis opulence was also expressed in their taste for clothes, architecture, books, and art. Te V&A’s exhibition looks at these


luxurious objects created during the golden age of the Mughals by dividing the show into three sections representing the reign of each emperor. Objects are displayed chronologically with a particular focus on the craftsmanship, arts, and creative outputs of the courts during the three reigns. Over 200 objects are on display, including


rarely precious shown


illustrated manuscripts, carpets,


paintings, drawings,


metal work, cabinets, other objets d’art and


International


textiles, architectural pieces, stones.


loans include four rare folios from the colourfully illustrated volumes of the Hamza-Nama (Book of Hamza) commissioned by Akbar in 1570, on loan from the Museum of Applied


Emerald pendant bead, 17th century, on loan from the al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait


(Ketab-khana), where and


stored. In the early phase of court painting, émigré Persian artists led the way, recruiting and instructing local painters and supervising the execution of the first major illumination projects. Mughal painting was not simply a


continuation of the Safavid tradition – India


already had a centuries-old


tradition of Buddhist and Jain illuminated manuscripts, patronised by the sultan rulers who preceded the Mughals. Tese earlier works also played a role in the evolution of the new Mughal painting style. During Akbar’s reign, alongside traditional Persian literature and poetry, a large volume of new texts was translated into Persian and richly illustrated by court artists. Tese


texts,


rather than executing the painting from real life. Gujarat had been producing distinctive luxury products, characteristically inlaying wood with mother-of-pearl or ivory in intricate floral patterns long before the start of the Mughal period. In the exhibition, there is a fall-front inlaid cabinet, circa 1600, and a ewer completely covered in mother-of-pearl, circa 1600-25. In Ahmadabad, craftsmen specialised in making objects entirely covered with mother-of-pearl, as can be seen on the ewer in the exhibition. Tese luxury objects were not only exported to the Mughal court, but also abroad to satisfy the growing demand for


‘oriental’ objects in the West. Similar items, but of a lower quality, were made in workshops in Khambhat, Surat, and neighbouring Sindh for a wider market. Jahangir shared an interest with his


father, Akbar, in the art of the book. Artists from the Imperial House of Books worked for both emperors, and the younger artists continued in Jahangir’s service, ensuring a continuance of style. On show in the exhibition are two miniatures by the court painter Mansur. Te first depicts a turkey cock, which is described in the Jahangir-nama (Book of Jahangir). In 1612, a consignment of exotic birds and animals arrived at the Mughal court from Goa, sent by a trusted servant of Jahangir to buy rarities of all kinds from the Portuguese. Mansur received the highest


accolade from Jahangir, the title of Nadir al-Asr (Wonder of the Age), for his ability to paint and preserve the likenesses of the flora and fauna that engaged the emperor’s attention. By studying the natural world, Jahangir was continuing a tradition begun by his great-grandfather, Babur, whose Babur-nama (Book of Babur) has a section devoted to the subject. His work shows a deep empathy with the subject matter,


and he regularly


accompanied the emperor on his journeys across the empire, witnessing and recording the subject matter first- hand. A second miniature, a portrait of a


zebra, including


collections of fables, Hindu texts, such as the Ramayana, and even stories of the life of Christ, testify to the open- mindedness of the Mughal rulers. In the 1580s and 1590s, Akbar’s Translation Office made Persian versions of a wide variety of texts with the illustrations accompanying the text in the contemporary Mughal style, which are very different from the earlier traditions of Indian painting in which Akbar’s predominantly Hindu artists would have been trained. In his mission to expand the empire,


Portrait of the zebra presented to emperor Jahangir by Mansur, 1621, Mughal court workshops, opaque watercolour and gold on paper © Victoria and Albert Museum, London


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Portrait of Shah Jahan holding an emerald by Muhammad ‘Abed, borders by Harif, circa 1628, opaque watercolour and gold on paper © Victoria and Albert Museum, London


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Akbar conquered the wealthy province of Gujarat in 1573. Te conquest of the region added significantly to the Mughal economy – and importantly, it provided access to the sea and maritime trade routes. Te Akbar-Nama (Book of Akbar) gives a detailed account of this major victory and the key battles. It also includes a description of the emperor’s first significant encounter with Europeans in Surat. By the early 1600s, Europeans would have been an increasingly familiar sight in the major cities of the empires. One miniature in the exhibition depicts a portrait of a European from the early 1600s, circa 1610-20, although his attire is from a much earlier period than the painting, suggesting the artist copied an image


Asian Art Newspaper is also included in the


exhibition. Jahangir wrote in his memoirs that this zebra was given to him in March 1621, at Nawruz (New Year), and that he ordered a court painting to depict it. Te writing on the right of the miniature, in the emperor’s hand, records that the artist


A European, Mughal court workshops, circa 1610-20, opaque watercolour and gold on paper © Victoria and Albert Museum, London


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