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Jahangir in a garden

Painting
ca. 1610 - ca. 1615 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This painting depicts the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) seated in a garden, surrounded by leading members of his court, and receiving his son Prince Parviz. Most of the characters are identified by minute inscriptions in Persian, the administrative and cultural language of the court. It is ascribed to the artist Manohar, who was the son of Basawan, a renowned artist of the reign of Jahangir's father, Akbar. Manohar was therefore a "khan-e zad", one of those born into the service of the court, probably in the late 1560s. He came to prominence during the 1580s and 1590s working as a junior artist, sometimes in collaboration with his father. By the reign of Jahangir he was one of the most important artists of the Mughal studio, and produced some of the most famous portraits of the time. The slight imbalance in scale between the different figures in this scene is due to each figure having been traced from a single study of the individual concerned, and then transferred into the composition, a common feature of court scenes of the period.
The painting was once part of a royal Mughal album, and is part of a group of detached miscellaneous leaves now divided between the V&A and the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and known as the "Minto Album", named after a former owner. Two Earls of Minto were appointed Governor-General of India, and it is not known which of them originally acquired the pages.

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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
Object type
TitleJahangir in a garden (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted in opaque watercolour and gold on paper
Brief description
Painting by Manohar, depicting Jahangir receiving his son Prince Parviz in a garden in the presence of courtiers, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Mughal, ca. 1610-1615
Physical description
Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, of Jahangir seated cross-legged on a dais depicted with his face in strict profile. He faces left, gesturing towards his son Parviz, who stands, as do all the other figures in the picture. There are 11 courtiers to Jahangir's right, and 4 others to his left, with two servants standing behind him, one carrying his dagger and the other a flywhisk. They are gathered in front of a pavilion in a garden enclosed by a high wall in which is an opening looking out over a cypress tree with a rocky landscape in the background. A small pool with a fountain is in the foreground. The painting is surrounded by a double row of Persian verses reserved against a gold ground filled with floral scrolls and has borders filled with flowering plants painted in gold.
Some of the individuals are identified by minute descriptions. On the top row, from left to right are: Khan 'Alam, Mirza Ghazi, Khan 'Azam and Mirza Rustam. Prince Parviz stands before his fatehr in a pink jama; immediately below him in the composition, resting on a stick, is Jahangir's father-in-law Itimad ad-daula, and behind the prince is Jahangir's brother-in-law, Asaf Khan. The individual portrait that was the template for Mirza Ghazi is in the V&A, museum number IM.118-1921.
Dimensions
  • Page height: 39cm
  • Page width: 26.4cm
  • Painting without border of poetry height: 23.7cm
  • Painting without border of poetry width: 15.6cm
Half Imperial Mount (Portrait)
Content description
Jahangir seated cross-legged on a dais depicted with his face in strict profile. He faces left, gesturing towards his son Parviz, who stands, as do all the other figures in the picture.
Style
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
Summary
This painting depicts the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) seated in a garden, surrounded by leading members of his court, and receiving his son Prince Parviz. Most of the characters are identified by minute inscriptions in Persian, the administrative and cultural language of the court. It is ascribed to the artist Manohar, who was the son of Basawan, a renowned artist of the reign of Jahangir's father, Akbar. Manohar was therefore a "khan-e zad", one of those born into the service of the court, probably in the late 1560s. He came to prominence during the 1580s and 1590s working as a junior artist, sometimes in collaboration with his father. By the reign of Jahangir he was one of the most important artists of the Mughal studio, and produced some of the most famous portraits of the time. The slight imbalance in scale between the different figures in this scene is due to each figure having been traced from a single study of the individual concerned, and then transferred into the composition, a common feature of court scenes of the period.
The painting was once part of a royal Mughal album, and is part of a group of detached miscellaneous leaves now divided between the V&A and the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and known as the "Minto Album", named after a former owner. Two Earls of Minto were appointed Governor-General of India, and it is not known which of them originally acquired the pages.
Associated object
IM.9A-1925 (Verso)
Bibliographic references
  • Asok Kumar Das. Splendour of Mughal Painting. Vakils, Feffer & Simons Limited, Bombay, 1986, Plate VII, pp 32-33. Susan Stronge, Painting for the Mughal Emperor. The art of the book 1560-1650, V&A Publications, London 2002, plate 87, p. 122. Ebba Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra, London: Thames & Hudson, 2006, fig. 50 p. 47 (detail)
  • T Koezuka.Ed: RC.TK.SS. Catalogue The Art of the Indian Courts; Intro DS.TK. Osaka 1993. No 3
  • Topsfield, Andrew, An introduction to Indian Court Painting, H.M.S.O., London, 1984, 0112903835 p. 20, cat. no. 10.
  • The Indian Portrait: 1560-1860 London: National Portrait Gallery, 2010 Number: 978 1 85514 409 5 p. 28, fig. 4.
  • The art of India and Pakistan, a commemorative catalogue of the exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1947-8. Edited by Sir Leigh Ashton. London: Faber and Faber, [1950] p. 155, cat. no. 694
  • 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. pp. 56-57, cat. no.3
  • Irwin, John C., Indian Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1968 pl. 33
Collection
Accession number
IM.9-1925

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Record createdDecember 22, 1999
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