Jahangir is shown in the audience hall at Agra receiving a tjpical assembly. Nearest him stands his four-year-old grandson, Prince Shah Shuja, who was brought up at court by Jahangir and Nur Jahan. Next to him is his father, Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) with his hands ceremoniously crossed. Among the many courtiers below the throne is a Jesuit priest, Father Corsi, whose name is inscribed. Impressive with their wealth of textiles, jewels, animals, and reverential nobles, such scenes were almost daily events at the imperial court, where protocol became increasingly rigid and complex, determining where one stood, what one wore, and the precise positions of one’s hands. Artists were in attendance to make sketches from which to paint illustrations, such as this one, for official histories. Jahangir was realistic about his appearance and urged artists to paint him, as here, with every wrinkle and jowl. Many of the lesser figures were depicted with less attentiveness. They do not interact, and most of their heads are inconsistent in scale because they were pounced from the life-drawings that were part of every court portraitist’s equipment. Although each nobleman was rendered accurately, gatherings of them were symbols of the emperor’s total domination, human bouquets for an autocrat. Occasionally noblemen were painted in darbar scenes who are known not to have been there, or even to have died prior to the event. This picture, which must have been painted for the largest and finest history of Jahangir’s reign, is inscribed “Work of the humble house-bom (artists).” Although the names are not given, they were probably Abu’l Hasan and Manohar. To Read More Visit This Book Link https://www.mughallibrary.com/ebooks2020/Imperial-Mughal-Painting.

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