Portrait of Emperor Shah Jahan

Artist: Unknown

ca. 1680

Asian Art

Individualized portraiture flourished in Mughal India beginning in the seventeenth century, even as more traditional, idealized ways of depicting facial features remained in practice. Here, an aging Shah Jahan is shown with a halo—a symbol of divinely ordained royalty.

Medium

Opaque watercolor on paper

Dimensions

6 × 3 1/4 in. (15.2 × 8.3 cm)

Credit Line

Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Bequest of Mrs. William H. Moore

Accession Number

1955.7.32

Geography
Culture
Period

Mughal dynasty (1526–1857)

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Provenance

Mrs. William H. Moore (Ada Small Moore) (1858–1955), New York; bequeathed to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1955
Bibliography
  • Francois Valentijn, Oud en nieuw Oost-Indien, vervattende een naaukeurige en uitvoerige verhandelinge van Nederlands mogentheyd in die gewesten, benevens e, Dordrecht, 1724–1726 (Amsterdam: Tweede Uitgave, 1862), fig. 12
  • Kishwar Rizvi, "Islamic Art at the Yale University Art Gallery," Arts of Asia (March–April 2018), 102, fig. 18
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

human figures (visual works), portraits

Subject

emperors

Signed

signed LL

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

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