The Otherworldly Khurram

This very famous painting was commissioned right around the time Jehangir’s successor, Prince Khurram became Emperor Shah Jahan and ascended the throne of Hindustan at 36 years of age. Dated 1627, the painting, now belongs to the Met Museum. The original painting itself is about eight inches tall and surrounded by calligraphy and flowers of gold. The page is surrounded by three Chagatay-Turkish verses which form the beginning of a ghazal about the "fire of love". Chitraman was the artist of this painting which continues to amaze historians and connoisseurs even today. The artist was trained in the imperial ateliers under Abu'l-Hasan. Several of his inscribed pictures portray Prince Dara-Shikoh, and it is likely that the artist served him under the supervision of Govardhan, to whom paintings by Chitarman have occasionally been attributed. The format of the painting continues the style developed in the Mughal ateliers since Akbar’s times. Emperor Shah Jahan is exquisitely dressed and richly adorned with jewels. His title – Emperor of the World is emphasized by his radiating halo and the hovering cherubs / puttis / angels which were in vogue in both Akbar’s and Jehangir’s works and were originally inspired from paintings brought to the court by Jesuits and European emissaries. The background appears to be of a North Indian summer with flat-bottomed boats plying by the Yamuna. The new emperor’s portraiture at the mercy of the artist Chitraman is intended to be that of an icon of stability. His pose is formal, stiff. The depiction in profile gives him the bearing of someone standing apart from the world. His chest is garlanded with jewels: strings of fat pearls interrupted by rubies and emeralds. Shah Jahan is wearing a weighty pink coat, called a jama, festooned with flowers, belted with a sash of gold and orange. The coat is tied to the right, in Muslim fashion. (Hindus tied theirs to the left.) On his head is a purple turban, strung with more jewels and topped with peacock feathers. That bird was an emblem: In the year this was painted, Shah Jahan ordered up the stupefyingly ornate Peacock Throne, whose jewels are now dispersed. Behind him is a marble screen, called a jali: an archetype of Indo-Persian luxury. The screen, as well as the floral-patterned brocade draped over its center, would have been made in one of the many imperial workshops.

Museum Grade Canvas

Museum grade 370 GSM Canvas by Hahnemuhle

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