File:Shah Jahan on a Terrace Holding a Pendant Set with His Portrait.jpg

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Summary

Chitarman: "Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Artist

Chitarman

Title

Shah Jahan on a Terrace Holding a Pendant Set with His Portrait

Object type

codex / manuscript illumination

Description

Shah Jahan on a Terrace Holding a Pendant Set with His Portrait, dated 1627/8; Mughal Inscribed by Chitarman, dated 1627/8 India Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

H. 15 3/8 in. (38.9 cm), W. 10 1/8 in. (25.6 cm)

Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955 (55.121.10.24)

Depicted people

Shah Jahan

Date

August 1627

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Dimensions

H. 15 3/8 in. (38.9 cm), W. 10 1/8 in. (25.6 cm)

Collection

Metropolitan Museum of Art

	Native name	Metropolitan Museum of Art
	Location	Manhattan, New York City, United States of America
	Coordinates	40° 46′ 46″ N, 73° 57′ 48″ W
	Established	1870
	Website	www.metmuseum.org
	Authority file	: Q160236 VIAF: 126238294 ISNI: 0000000419368761 ULAN: 500125157 LCCN: n79129629 NLA: 36247933 WorldCat

Accession number

(55.121.10.24)

Place of creation

Mughal Empire

Object history

12 December 1929: in collection of Hagop Kevorkian
1955: in collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art

Credit line

Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955

Notes

Shah Jahan's love of sumptuous objects is doubly manifest in this extraordinary portrait-within-a-portrait, probably made as an imperial gift. The work clearly grows out of the fantastic allegorical portraits of Jahangir, especially in the treatment of the sky, where the clouds, inhabited by putti, receive color from and frame the monarch's sunlike nimbus. The technique and finish of the painting are superb. Great care has been taken to render tactile as well as visual qualities: the viewer senses the subtle contrasts between the flowered gauze of the emperor's tunic, his heavy gold sash, and his spinel-studded string pearls. Each element seems related to an almost suprahuman degree. The conceit that has the emperor holding a miniature portrait of himself intensifies the impact of this tour de force of illusionism. The beautifully considered borders perfectly enhance the miniature by extending the glow of blue and gold to the edge of the pages.

Jewel portraits (shast) such as the one shown here were sometimes worn in the turban by nobles of the court. However, ironically, Shah Jahan banned the wearing of shast-portraits in this manner in the very year (1627) this painting was made, though, as is evident, they continued to be produced.

References

Source/Photographer

Licensing

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