The Mughal Emperor and his Court thumbnail 1
The Mughal Emperor and his Court thumbnail 2
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The Mughal Emperor and his Court

Album Page
1774 (made)
Place of origin
Faizabad (made)

The emperor seated on his small throne (takht, centre top) with his main court officials, his thrones, standard, canopies, parasols, musical instruments.


Object details

Object type
Album page
TitleThe Mughal Emperor and his Court (series title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour
Watercolour
Brief description
Gentil; Manuscripts, Col J B J Gentil, Faizabad, 1774. Page number 1. The emperor seated on his small throne, with officials. Preceding this page are three text pages ('Avis', 'Recueil...' and 'Table des dessins') and another page with text beginning 'Cette planche represente' which relates to page 1 (IS.25:1-1980). The text on the back of page 1 (entitled 'fete de l'avenement au trosne') relates to the next image, page 2 (IS.25:2-1980).
Physical description
The emperor seated on his small throne (takht, centre top) with his main court officials, his thrones, standard, canopies, parasols, musical instruments.
Dimensions
  • Length: 37cm
  • Width: 53.5cm
Style
Company
Marks and inscriptions
(Inscribed with notes relating to the illustrations and a list of contents giving Gentil's title and a brief description for each folio. Inscribed inside front cover.)
Object history
The Gentil Album: fifty-eight pages of drawings bound into a worn leather cover.
By various Indian Artists, including Nevasi Lal and Mohan Singh.

Dalrymple, William and Sharma, Yuthika (eds). Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi, 1707-1857. New York : Asia Society ; New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN 9780300176667 ; 030017666X. p. 25 Fig.1.
Subjects depicted
Emperor
Throne
Officials
Canopies
Parasols
Musical Instruments
Bibliographic references
  • Archer, Mildred. Company Paintings Indian Paintings of the British period Victoria and Albert Museum Indian Series London: Victoria and Albert Museum, Maplin Publishing, 1992 118 p. ISBN 0944142303 Chanchal Dadlani, ‘Transporting India. The Gentil Album and Mughal Manuscript Culture’, Art History. 2025, pp. 748-761 (pl. 1, p. 750) Yuthika Sharma 'Ghulam Ali Khan and the Delhi School of painting', in William Dalrymple, ed. Forgotten Masters. Indian Painting for the EAst India Company, London 2019, fig. 36 p. 144 (wrongly numbered IS.25:16-1980).
  • 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 6, pages 28/29
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
IS.25:1-1980

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O405319/the-mughal-emperor-and-his-album-page/
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