Muraqqa’: Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library

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Description

All through history, people have assembled albums that record their lives and the world around them. A number of the most remarkable of all albums ever created are those made in the years 1600-1657 for the emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The Mughal dynasty ruled India for more than three centuries, but the period of greatest artistic production was once that of these two great emperors, and the albums of paintings and calligraphy (referred to as muraqqa’ in Persian), that they assembled now serve as a window to understanding the history and culture of this necessary period of Indian history. The paintings in the albums include formal (regularly symbolic) portraits of the emperors themselves, depictions of members of the royal circle of relatives in relaxed private settings, portraits of courtiers, Sufi saints and mystics, genre scenes, and natural history subjects.

This lavishly-illustrated, color catalogue, accommodates essays by Elaine Wright, Curator of the Islamic Collections, Chester Beatty Library, Wheeler Thackston, Lecturer, Harvard University, Susan Stronge, Curator Asia Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Steven Cohen, Textile Specialist, Independent Scholar and Creator, London.

Exhibition Itinerary

The exhibition premieres on the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (May 3 – August 3, 2008). Subsequent venues include the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan (August 23 – November 16, 2008); the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawai’i (December 17, 2008 – March 1, 2009); and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (March 21 – June 14, 2009).

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