A Night Celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday from the St. Petersburg Album

Maker(s)
Artist: Attributed to Bulaqi, son of Hoshang
Borders: Muhammad Sadiq
Patron: Shah Jahan (reigned 1628-1658)
Historical period(s)
Mughal dynasty, ca. 1635; borders 1751-52
Movement
Mughal Court
School
Mughal School
Medium
Opaque watercolor, ink, silver and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 30.5 x 23.1 cm (12 x 9 1/8 in)
Geography
India
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1942.18a
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Album, Painting
Type

Album leaf with painting

Keywords
India, Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858), night
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

This painting represents Shah Jahan holding a night audience for a large group of mullahs, or Muslim theologians. It may have been painted for a volume of the Padshahnama (Book of the Emperor), an official biography of the Emperor.


Shah Jahan, seated on a platform throne under a canopy on the left, is shown praying with the mullahs and the members of his Court prior to a feast. Dara Shikoh, his eldest and favorite son, sits immediately behind the Emperor. Scholars have suggested that the elaborate feast depicted in the painting took place on the occasion of the marriage of Dara Shikoh.

Published References
  • Wilma Komala. The Windsor Castle Badhah Nama and its Place in the Development of Historical Painting During the Reign of Shah Jahan, 1628-1658. Ann Arbor. pl. LVXIII.
  • Shanti Swarup. Flora and Fauna in Mughal Art. Bombay. ill. 137.
  • I.N. Khan Arshi. Black Taj Mahal: The Emperor's Missing Tomb. New Delhi. .
  • Chaldecott Nada. Dhurries: History, Technique, Pattern, Identification. New York. p. 13, pl. 17.
  • Annemarie Schimmel. Islam in India and Pakistan. Iconography of Religions Leiden. p. 27, pl. xxiii.
  • Ali Anooshahr. The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan: Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature. Mumbai, India. p. 120, fig. 4a.
  • Milo Cleveland Beach. The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court. Exh. cat. Washington, 1981. cat. 17e, pp. 174-177.
  • Milo Cleveland Beach. King of the World: The Padshahnama: An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. Exh. cat. London, 1997. pp. 218-219, fig. 144.
Collection Area(s)
South Asian and Himalayan Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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