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Walters Ms. W.703, Single leaf of a portrait of Shah Jahan

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Shelf mark

W.703


Manuscript

Single leaf of a portrait of Shah Jahan


Text title
Portrait of Shāh Jahān

Abstract

This Mughal portrait set in an oval medallion dates to the late eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE and represents the Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān (d. 1076 AH / 1666 CE). The portrait is comparable to other depictions of the ruler, including W.700, which is inscribed with Shāh Jahān's name, Shah Jahan Holding a Turban Ornament in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.78.6.15), and the relief portrait bust of Shah Jahan in alabaster housed in the Riksmuseum, Amsterdam (12249). The portrait is flanked by two inscribed cartouches with a blue and pink stenciled floral border.


Date

11th century AH / 17th CE


Origin

India


Form

Leaf


Genre

Historical


Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.


Support material

Paper

Mounted on pasteboard


Extent

Foliation: Not applicable


Dimensions

16.0 cm wide by 26.5 cm high


Layout
  1. Image: 8.0 cm wide by 15.0 cm high

Contents:
fols. W.703a - W.703b:
  1. Title: Portrait of Shāh Jahān
  2. Hand note: Written in nastaʿlīq script
  3. Decoration note: Blue and pink stenciled floral border

Decoration:

fol. W.703a:

  1. W.703, fol. W.703a
  2. Title: Portrait of Shāh Jahān
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Label: This Mughal portrait set in an oval medallion dates to the late eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE and represents the Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān (d. 1076 AH / 1666 CE). The portrait is comparable to other depictions of the ruler, including W.700, which is inscribed with Shāh Jahān's name, Shah Jahan Holding a Turban Ornament in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.78.6.15), and the relief portrait bust of Shah Jahan in alabaster housed in the Riksmuseum, Amsterdam (12249).

fol. W.703b:

  1. W.703, fol. W.703b
  2. Title: Portrait of Shāh Jahān (back)
  3. Form: Back

Acquisition

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest


Bibliography

Pal, Pratapaditya, et al. Romance of the Taj Mahal. London: Thames and Hudson; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989.

Koch, Ebba. Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology: Collected Essays. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.


Contributors

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.