Digital Book:
The Jahangirnama - Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India
Translated and edited by Wheeler Macintosh Thackston,
Published by Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, New York - 1999

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Image:
"Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Painting by Chitarman (active ca. 1627–70)

The presentation of the emperor amplifies the formula evolved during the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir. Shah Jahan is exquisitely dressed and richly adorned with jewels, his imperial rank emphasized by his radiating halo and the hovering angels borrowed from European art. The skills of many craftsmen and designers of the Mughal court—jewelers, weavers, architects, feather workers, armorers, stonecutters, and others—are represented here. This is Chitarman’s earliest dated picture, painted soon after Shah Jahan’s accession.

Text and image credit:
© 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art