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Shah Jahan

Painting
ca. 1616 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Abu'l Hasan (made)
Place of origin
Mughal Empire (made)

This portrait of prince Khurram, the eldest son of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) was almost certainly painted when Jahangir bestowed upon him the title Shah Jahan, meaning 'King of the World'. Shah Jahan retained the title when he succeeded his father as emperor in 1628.
In later years, Shah Jahan added the Persian inscription in black ink in the border, noting that it is 'a good likeness of me in my twenty-fifth year and it is the fine work of Nader al-Zaman [= the leading artist of the reign, Abu'l Hasan]'.
The minute inscription in Nasta'aliq calligraphy in gold beginning on the right of the green ground, under Shah Jahan's hand, and continuing on the left beneath his right elbow may be translated: Blessed likeness of the qibla [the direction of Mecca] and master of mankind / the work of the [artist] born in hereditary palatial service Nadir al-Zaman. The title 'Shah Jahan' is written above his head in gold.

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read The arts of the Mughal Empire The great age of Mughal art lasted from about 1580 to 1650 and spanned the reigns of three emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Hindu and Muslim artists and craftsmen from the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent worked with Iranian masters in the masculine environment of the r...

Object details

Categories
Paintings
Portraits
Royalty
Bonita Trust Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project
SCRAN
Object type
Painting
TitleShah Jahan (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted in opaque watercolour and gold on paper
Opaque Watercolour
Gold
Paper
Painted
Brief description
Painting, portrait of Shah Jahan as a prince, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, by Abu'l Hasan, Mughal, ca. 1616
Physical description
Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Shah Jahan is depicted as a prince, wearing an orange jama, standing facing right with his face in strict profile and holding up a turban ornament. The deep green background is filled with flowering plants, and the artist's signature is in gold on the left of the prince. Persian verses reserved against a gold ground filled with interlocking lines bearing coloured palmettes and leaves are in narrow borders at left and right. The painting and verses are contained within a frame of gold palmettes on scrollling lines, and the outer borders are filled with flowering plants painted in gold with colours, now very faded.
Dimensions
  • Page height: 38.7cm
  • Page width: 26.6cm
  • Painting only height: 20.6cm
  • Painting only width: 11.5cm
Half Imperial Mount (Portrait)
Content description
Shah Jahan as a prince depicted in his 25th year, wearing an orange jama, standing facing right with his face in strict profile and holding a turban ornament.
Style
Mughal
Marks and inscriptions
(The attribution by Shah Jahan identifying himself as the subject and Abu'l Hasan as the artist is in black ink beneath the portrait . The minute Nasta'aliq inscription in gold beginning on the right of the green ground, under Shah Jahan's hand, and continuing on the left beneath his right elbow may be translated: Blessed likeness of the qibla [the direction of Mecca] and master of mankind / the work of the [artist] born in hereditary palatial service Nadir al-Zaman'. The prince's title, Shah Jahan, is written above his head in gold.)
Translation
'this is a fine likeness of me in my 25th year and this is fine work by Nader al-Zaman' [=Abu'l Hasan]
Transliteration
'shabih-e khub-e bist u panj salagi-ye man ast va kar khub-e nadir al-zaman ast'
Object history
The folio is from a group of paintings acquired at auction in 1925 where they were sold as "The Minto Album" and subsequently divided between the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin and the V&A.
Subjects depicted
Jewellery
Flowers
Prince
Shah Jahan
Summary
This portrait of prince Khurram, the eldest son of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) was almost certainly painted when Jahangir bestowed upon him the title Shah Jahan, meaning 'King of the World'. Shah Jahan retained the title when he succeeded his father as emperor in 1628.
In later years, Shah Jahan added the Persian inscription in black ink in the border, noting that it is 'a good likeness of me in my twenty-fifth year and it is the fine work of Nader al-Zaman [= the leading artist of the reign, Abu'l Hasan]'.
The minute inscription in Nasta'aliq calligraphy in gold beginning on the right of the green ground, under Shah Jahan's hand, and continuing on the left beneath his right elbow may be translated: Blessed likeness of the qibla [the direction of Mecca] and master of mankind / the work of the [artist] born in hereditary palatial service Nadir al-Zaman. The title 'Shah Jahan' is written above his head in gold.
Bibliographic references
  • Guy, John and Swallow, Deborah (eds.) Arts of India: 1550-1900. Text by Rosemary Crill, John Guy, Veronica Murphy, Susan Stronge and Deborah Swallow. London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1990, reprinted 1999. 240 p. : ill. ISBN: 1851770224. p.81, pl.56 Asok Kumar Das. Splendour of Mughal Painting. Vakils, Feffer & Simons Limited, Bombay 1986, Plate IX, pp.36-37
  • Susan Stronge, Nima Smith, and J.C. Harle. A Golden Treasury : Jewellery from the Indian Subcontinent London : Victoria and Albert Museum in association with Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 1988. ISBN: 0944142168 Fig.10, page 34
  • STRONGE, Susan. Painting for the Mughal Emperor: The Art of the Book 1560 – 1660 London : V&A Publications, 2002. 192p, ill. ISBN 1 85177 358 4. p. 128, pl. 93
  • Stronge, S. Made for Mughal Emperors. Royal Treasures from Hindustan. London and New York, 2010 p. 142, pl. 107 Susan Stronge. ‘Collecting Mughal Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum’, in Stephen Vernoit, ed. Discovering Islamic Art. Scholars, Collectors and Collections, 1850-1950. I.B. Tauris, London, 2000, pp. 85-95 (fig. 19, p. 93)
  • The Indian Portrait: 1560-1860 London: National Portrait Gallery, 2010 Number: 978 1 85514 409 5 p. 92, cat. no. 22
  • Swallow, D., Stronge, S., Crill, R., Koezuka, T., editor and translator, "The Art of the Indian Courts. Miniature Painting and Decorative Arts", Victoria & Albert Museum and NHK Kinki Media Plan, 1993. p. 30, cat. no. 4
  • Irwin, John C., Indian Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1968 pl. 36
  • Skelton, Robert, et al, The Indian Heritage. Court life and Arts under Mughal Rule London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982 Robert Skelton, Cat. no. 41, p. 37
  • Diamonds: the world's most dazzling exhibition, London, Natural History Museum, 2005
  • Jewellery Studies, Vol. 1, 1883-4, Stronge, Susan, "Mughal Jewellery", pps. 49-53, pub. 1985
  • Jewellery Studies, vol. 10, 2004. Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani, "The Jewelled Objects of Hindustan", pp.19-20, figs. 11 and 10.
  • R. Elgood, Vol. 10, 2004, "Mughal Arms and the Indian Court Tradition", p. 92, fig. 17.
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
IM.14-1925

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16761/shah-jahan-painting-abul-hasan/
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