- Title
- Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) in Audience
- Date Made
- circa 1700-1725
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
- Dimensions
- 12 1/4 x 8 in. (31.12 x 20.32 cm); 12 5/16 x 8 in. (31.12 x 20.32 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1992.94.1
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This painting presents a rich artistic record of an Imperial Mughal court scene. Representations of the emperor formally receiving officials and visitors, known as durbar or audience scenes, are among the most persistent in the three centuries of Mughal painting. Inspired by earlier Islamic and contemporary European imagery, Mughal audience scenes fulfilled similar political and propagandistic purposes by portraying the emperor in a hierarchical manner that emphasizes his power and grandeur. In an era before the advent of photography, such realistic portraits of foreign dignitaries, princes, and officials served to record the attendance at ceremonial or historic occasions, and to augment written reports gauging the bureaucrats’ strengths and personalities.
Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) is elevated on a throne and centered in the composition, with visitors and royal subordinates symmetrically arranged according to protocol. Each figure is identified by minute Arabic labels. (Translations by John Seyller.) The emperor’s divine presence and hereditary right to rule are indicated by his golden nimbus. Shah Jahan is accepting a pearl necklace presented by his father-in-law, Asaf Khan (c. 1569-1641). Below him stands Prince Murad Bakhsh facing his royal siblings, Princes Dara Shikoh (1615-1659), Shah Shuja (1616-1659) and Aurangzeb (1618-1707).
Based on a minute signature, this painting is likely a copy of a durbar scene painted by Inayd Inayat (India, active circa 1590-1615?).
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Janice Leoshko, Joseph M. Dye, III, Stephen Markel. Romance of the Taj Mahal. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1993, vol. 31, no. 1-11 (January-November, 1993).
