Jehangir and the temporal astrolabe

This is perhaps the largest painting to have emerged from the Mughal period. It shows emperor Jahangir whose name means ‘world-seizer’, holding a globe in his right palm. It is believed that this globe was constructed by the metallurgist Muhammad Salih Tahtawi who was famed for the then impossible feat of constructing seamless hollow spheres, leaving no tell-tale cavity or crease from its making. Seventeenth century astrolabe (astrolabe is an ancient instrument used for estimating the altitude and predicting the position of celestial objects, such as the moon, other planets, and stars) makers in Lahore appear to have excelled in this method, called the ‘cire perdue’ (lost wax), a technique which is now lost to history.These “seamlessly cast globes continued to be made in Lahore up to the mid-19th century.

The painting was created by Abu al-Hasan who was the son of Aqa Reza (a leading artist of the Persian Safavid Court who later took employment under Jehangir) of Herat in Safavid Iran, a city with an artistic tradition. When Abu al-Hasan began producing art a young age, the emperor, Jahangir, greatly appreciated his skills of the boy. In 1599, Abu al-Hasan moved with Jahangir to his newly founded court in Allahabad. The emperor considered Abu al-Hasan to be particularly special to him and under his care. This is because although Abu al-Hasan’s artwork was similar in many ways to his father’s with Dutch and English influence, it was considered to be of a higher quality similar to that of older masters in the field. Jahangir said of Abu al-Hasan that he had no equal and for the work done on the frontispiece for his memoires, the emperor bestowed the title Nadir-uz-Saman ("Wonder of the Age") on Abu al-Hasan in 1618.
Abu al-Hasan's main task was the documentation of events at the imperial court, which resulted in many portraits being completed. Portraits were the hallmark of Jahangir’s rule. Not many of Abu al-Hasan's paintings survived or are hidden in the coffers of museums and collectors, but those that identify him as the artist show that he also worked on a range of subjects, including some everyday scenes and political paintings that showed the emperor and Mughal empire in a positive and powerful light. While Abu al-Hasan’s career aligned with developments in the style of Mughal paintings, when Jahangir's reign came to an end, and Shah Jahan began his rule, Abu al-Hasan influence and works rescinded into oblivion. The painting was made when Abu’l Hasan was still living in Mandu (before he was invited by Jehangir to the royal court) and uses gouache heightened with gold leaf on a fine woven cotton canvas. Jehangir is shown seated on a European-style throne with decoration formed from raised red pigment, possibly lead, his head surrounded by a radiating nimbus and wearing an embroidered floral tunic over a patka and striped pyjama, with applied plaster jewellery, the circular pendant around the Emperor's neck set with mica, with jade and glass vessels at his side and carpet under his feet. One thing notable about the work is that it is also one of the most expensive Mughal Paintings in today’s age, having fetched a king-size price of Rupees 13 Crores after it was sold at an English auction house in 2010.

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