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Perhaps the best known cultural remnant of the mighty Mughal empire, which held sway across what is today Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India and Bangladesh in the 16th and 17th centuries, is the English word “mogul”, denoting someone of almost unimaginable wealth and power. Just how wealthy and powerful the Mughal emperors were is demonstrated in a new exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which can afford to offer the best known physical remnant of the empire, the Taj Mahal, only passing mention among a galaxy of remarkable paintings, illustrated manuscripts, textiles, carpets and spectacular objects made from precious stones and metals, some of which have rarely been displayed before.
“Of course we nod to the Taj Mahal,” explains curator Susan Stronge. “And we have architectural drawings and models. But it is just one, admittedly exceptional, part of a much larger story.”
The empire was born in the early 16th century with incursions by Mughals from central Asia south into the Indian subcontinent. But the empire proper coalesced in the middle of the century and the exhibition focuses on three of its leaders from that point onwards, beginning with the unlikely rule of Akbar. Crowned in 1556 when he was just 13 years of age, in his half-century reign he transformed an unpromising inheritance into a vastly expanded realm. He was succeeded by Jahangir in 1605 who exploited a period of political stability and ever-growing wealth to support a huge range of artistic activity before he was followed in 1628 by Shah Jahan – builder of the Taj Mahal – who cemented the imperial image.
The early, violent conquest of territory was a relatively short-lived period, and soon enough the empire began to rely more on family and political alliances rather than war to advance its interests. It adopted Persian as an administrative language to bring together disparate regions and it attracted many foreigners, artists as well as traders and administrators, to its court.
“Akbar became something of an archetype of tolerance,” says Stronge. “He actively tried to promote understanding between different religions and had the major texts of Hinduism translated into Persian so they could be read by the Muslims at court to better understand the others’ viewpoint. It was a practical as well as enlightened move as a Muslim ruling over a majority Hindu population.”
Vast wealth flowed into the court from land revenues, mineral and precious stone deposits, textiles and sophisticated networks of international trade. A cosmopolitan atmosphere of artistic and technological exchange flourished, with an especially strong Iranian influence, which permeated the existing and deeply embedded craft traditions of the subcontinent to create a new hybrid style that was distinctively Mughal.
“Iranians were put into key positions in the imperial workshops with Hindu and Muslim Hindustani artists working for them,” says Stronge. “Later on, you had English people coming, and we know about a French jeweller working for Jahangir and a Dutch diamond polisher working for Shah Jahan. Enamelling became one of the great arts of his reign, but this was a European technique and was probably learned through the Portuguese in Goa, who were influential as gem traders.”
After Shah Jahan, the empire’s expansion eventually became unsustainable, its powers diminished and it inevitably broke up. “But while there was political decline there was also remarkable artistic continuity,” says Stronge.” The styles established, especially by Shah Jahan, went on to influence taste for centuries and it is not too much to say that the Mughals’ legacy continues to reverberate across south-east Asia, both in terms of art and wider society even up to today.”
The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence is at the V&A South Kensington, London, to 5 May.
Five precious relics of the great Mughals
The giant Zumurrud Shah flees with his army by flying away on urns sent by sorcerers (c.1562-1577. Opaque watercolour and gold on cotton backed with paper.)
One of Akbar’s first initiatives was an enormous project for calligraphers and artists to capture oral tales from Iran. This image would have been painted by both Hindu and Muslim artists under the supervision of Iranians and the fragility of the technique means that only about 10% of the original 1,400 paintings have survived.
Shield (c.1580-90. Wicker inlaid with mother-of-pearl)
This shield depicting courtly scenes not only illustrates how the Mughal’s had embraced ancient local craft skills, such as the Gujarati expertise in inlaid mother-of-pearl, but also the international connections of the empire: the Medici family in Florence acquired it as early as 1599 and it is now housed in the Bargello museum in the city.
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A Mughal princess, probably Nadira Banu Begum (c.1630-33. Opaque watercolour and gold on paper)
Historical sources indicate that women of the imperial court enjoyed considerable power and wealth and commissioned many works of art. But they were rarely represented, making this portrait – believed to be of Shah Jahan’s daughter-in-law– both unusual and important.
Detail of a hunting coat (c.1610–25, embroidered satin)
The production of fine garments involved not only an international trade in textiles and multiple tailoring crafts, but might also employ the expertise of court manuscript designers, metalworkers and many more. This coat uses silk, of 16 different colours, in its embroidered design of flowers, animals and birds.
Bejewelled dagger and scabbard (c.1620)
The over 2,000 stones – rubies, diamonds, emeralds, glass – in this dagger would have been shaped before being set in the hilt and scabbard in a masterclass of jewellers work and stone cutting. It was probably a superior presentation object to be given to important visitors or senior functionaries of the court.