"Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Chitarman

recto: dated 1627–28; verso: ca. 1530–50 · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art

The presentation of the emperor amplifies the formula evolved during the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir. Shah Jahan is exquisitely dressed and richly adorned with jewels, his imperial rank emphasized by his radiating halo and the hovering angels borrowed from European art. The skills of many craftsmen and designers of the Mughal court—jewelers, weavers, architects, feather workers, armorers, stonecutters, and others—are represented here. This is Chitarman’s earliest dated picture, painted soon after Shah Jahan’s accession.

Artist

Chitarman

Date

recto: dated 1627–28; verso: ca. 1530–50

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955