In this page from the Padshahnama, the artist has created a unified space stretching from the foreground, where goaders are milling, to the top of the scene, where the emperor and his two sons are shown in profile at an open tripartite window. Although the white and red walls of the fort are unmodulated planes, the placement of figures before them gives a sense of spatial recession. The dynamism of the elephant combat balances the impassive family portraits. While the courtiers in the upper tier turn their backs on the melee to face the royals, and the lower figures seem more concerned with the combat, curiously, none of them look directly at the object of their attention, somewhat diminishing the work's psychological intensity. Nevertheless, the artist subtly suggests that the emperor, under his gilded roof, is the lord of all beneath him.
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Artwork Details
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Title:"Shah Jahan Watching an Elephant Fight", Folio from a Padshahnama
Artist:Bulaqi
Date:probably 1639
Geography:Attributed to India
Medium:Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions:H. 15 1/16 in. (38.2 cm) W. 9 3/4 in. (24.7 cm)
Classification:Codices
Credit Line:Harris Brisbane Dick, Louis V. Bell, Pfeiffer and Dodge Funds, 1989
Accession Number:1989.135
Shah Jahan Watching an Elephant Fight
This fine page from the Padshah-nama is typical of the high-quality work that continued to emerge from the imperial atelier. The artist has created a unified space stretching from the foreground, where goaders are milling, to the top of the scene, where the emperor and his two sons are shown in profile at an open tripartite window. Although the white-and-red walls of the fort are unmodulated planes, the placement of figures before them gives a sense of spatial recession. The dynamism of the elephant combat balances the impassive royal family portraits. While the courtiers in the upper tier turn their backs on the melee to face the royals and the lower ones seem more concerned with the combat, curiously, none of them look directly at the object of their attention, somewhat diminishing the work's psychological intensity. Nevertheless, the artist subtly suggests that the emperor, under his gilded roof, is the lord of all beneath him.
Steven M. Kossak in [Kossak 1997]
Shah Jahan Watching an Elephant Fight
The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan appears seated, facing left, in a pavillion of the Khas Mahal in the Red Fort at Agra. Facing him is his favorite son and heir apparent, Dara Shikuh, while behind him is a younger son, Shah Shuja or Aurangzeb. On a balcony behind a railing, two groups of courtiers face each other, while more courtiers stand behind a while wall below. The elephants, each ridden by a mahout, holding an elephant goad, and his assistent, are fighting in the open ground outside the fort, with various servants, keepers and trainers assigned to see that no lasting damage is done to such imperial beasts. There are inscriptions above the elephants identifying them, but they are not fully legible.
The dating of the paintnig is contingent on the incomplete date 104 (last digit missing) in an inscription and the presence of 'Ali Mardan Khan (third from left on the balcony), erstwile Persian governor of the much contested fort of Qandahar, which he turned over to the Mughals, arriving at court in November of 1638. Since the next decade (1050) began in April of 1640, the painting must have been done between November 1638 and April 1640.
The artist Bulaqi, mentioned in one inscription, is otherwise unknown. A second artist painted the three royal portraits but his name, in the inscription below Shah Jahan, is now illegible.
Marie Lukens Swietochowski in [Walker et al. 1994]
Inscription: In Persian four inscriptions: 1) Under window: Likeness of the servants of the highest Presence and likenesses of the prince of the inhabitants of the world Work of (?) the lowliest ...(?). 2) Above the gate: Work of the lowliest houseborn [slaves], Bulaqi son of Hushang, year 104. 3) Above left elephant: Likeness of (?) [name not fully legible, may be Hindi bhairo, "terrible, formidable," or bhir, "hero, brave." 4) Above right elephant: Likeness of War-brave soldier
Nasr ud-Din Shah, Shah of Iran (probably from 1739; gifted to Petermann); Mr. Petermann ; M.F. Engle-Gros, Ripaille, France; [ Parish-Watson & Co. (American), New York, in 1924]; Samuel C. Davis, St. Louis; Alita Davis Weaver(until 1989; her estate sale, Sotheby's New York,March 22, 1989, no. 63); [ Terence McInerney, New York, 1989; sold to MMA]
Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 26.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Indian Court Painting: 16th–19th Century," March 25–July 6, 1997, no. 25.
New York. Asia Society. "Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi, 1707–1857," February 7, 2012–May 6, 2012, no. 1.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. "Two Mughal Paintings with Portraits of 'Ali Mardan Khan." Yearbook of Oriental Art and Culture vol. I, II (1924–25). vol. I, pp. 66–69, ill. vol. II, pl. 49.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 48, no. 2 (1989–1990). pp. 14–15, ill. (color).
"March 22, 1989." In Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art 1989. New York: Sotheby's, New York, 1989. no. 63, ill, (color).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahil, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 26, pp. 96–97, ill. (color).
Kossak, Steven M., ed. Indian Court Painting 16th–19th century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 25, pp. 53, 55, ill. (color).
Dalrymple, William, and Yuthika Sharma. "in Mughal Delhi, 1707–1857." In Princes and Painters. New Haven and London: Asia Society, 2012. no. 1, pp. xii, 70, ill. (color).
Haidar, Navina. Jali : Lattice of Divine Light in Mughal Architecture. Ahmedabad, India: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2023. Front Endpapers.
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