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Frieze panel
unknown - Enlarge image
Frieze panel
- Place of origin:
Agra, India (made)
- Date:
ca. 1640 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
White marble, inlaid with carnelian, yellow and black marble and serpentine
- Museum number:
1534-1855
- Gallery location:
Architecture, room 128, case 9, shelf WW, box EXP
This white marble panel was probably made in Agra in about 1640. It is inlaid with coloured stones in the technique known as pietra dura, introduced from Italy to the Mughal empire during the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and reinterpreted by Indian craftsmen. The technique is found on many of the most important monuments of the reign of his son, Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), notably the Taj Mahal at Agra. The stonemasons here inlaid white marble from the Makrana mines in Rajasthan with a range of semi-precious stones, including nephrite jade from Kashgar and Khotan, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and stones such as carnelian, heliotrope and agate from various regions in the Indian subcontinent. The use of strapwork in the ornament on this panel indicates the subtle influence that European design could have on Mughal art. It was bought by the South Kensington Museum in 1855.
