The impressive volume on Mughal miniatures, based on Jahangir's Album in the State Library, Berlin, first published in 1923 (English trans. 1926), is given an appropriate attention through this englarged reprinted edition. It brings an unsung rich variety of Indian painting to the fore.
The present volume, resolutely monographic in approach, discovers stylistic and thematic perspective with a focus on the personal oeuvre of the eminent painters of Mughal Emperor Jahangir's (r. 1605-1627) court. His period corresponded to the golden age of Mughal art. Through the paged of this volume, we grasp the great aesthetic worth and extraordinary appeal of the Mughal portraits, vibrant bird and animal studies, superb calligraphy and magnificent ornaments. The technical skills, motifs, and the symbolism so characteristic of this period are also discussed extensively. The volume further analyses the influence of European Renaissance art on Mughal painting.
The outstanding holding of the State Library, Berlin shares Jahangir's connoisseurly enthusiasm and devotion of painting. The emperor has inscribed many of the portraits in a hand of imperial aplomb.
It is understood that the present volume will lay open the Berlin collection to actuate the readers to reinterpret the miniatures afresh. Additionally, the references of an almost parallel and contemporary specimens alongside the Berlin examples will add to our understanding of the latter.
Enriched by the historian craft, this volume is significant for the wide appeal it commands-it will not only interest art historians, connoisseurs of art, and those interested in the development of painting in South Asia but also serious scholars of Mughal history and culture studies. |
