This coin bears a Scorpio symbol found on the other objects in the collection, but it was not created for talismanic purposes. This sign instead corresponds to the month in which it was minted. In his memoirs, the Mughal emperor Jahangir recorded his inspired idea for the unusual design of this and other coins depicting the signs of the zodiac.
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Title:Coin
Date:dated 1030 AH/1621 CE
Geography:Made in India
Medium:Silver
Dimensions:Diam. 13/16 in. (2 cm) D. 1/16 in. (0.2 cm)
Classification:Coins
Credit Line:Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, 1898
Accession Number:99.35.7405
Nine coins from the reign of Jahangir: 99.35.2382, .2391, .2394, .2397, .6552, .7401, .7402, .7403, .7405
The Mughal ruler Jahangir (r. A.D. 1605–27) had, among his many artistic interests, a particular concern for the appearance of the coins struck during his reign. He explained in his autobiography that since dated coins, minted at the time, bore the month in addition to the year, he had devised a plan to replace the months with images of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Following this idea, a spectacular series of coins was produced in both gold and silver, with images of a sign of the Zodiac and of the sun (the latter was a royal symbol) on the obverse and an inscription that included Jahangir's name, the date, and the mint on the reverse.
The Metropolitan Museum owns ten of these rare coins, five gold muhurs and five silver rupees, nine of which depict different signs of the Zodiac (Leo appears on both silver and gold coins, while those with Virgo, Sagittarius, and Aquarius are missing). It is fascinating to learn from Jahangir himself that each sign is meant to correspond to the month of coinage, with Aries presumably the first month, and so on. According to this system, these nine coins would have been minted, in chronological order, in January 1618, January or February 1618, March 1618, November or December 1619, June or July 1621, September 1622, February or March 1624, and April or May 1625. However, a brief study of these coins reveals some inconsistencies in this respect, since in two cases the A.H. year, the year of Jahangir's reign (also stamped on the reverse), and the month/sign of the Zodiac do not correspond. For example, the coin on which Leo is shown, supposedly struck in February or March 1624, and the coin with Libra (to the right of Leo), minted fourteen months later, in April or May 1625, bear the same year of Jahangir's reign, the nineteenth, stamped on the reverse. This would suggest that the equation, sign=month, in strict accordance with Jahangir's will, was not always followed.
[Carboni 1997]
Inscription: yaft dar agra ru-ye zar zaveer / az jahangir shah shah akbar 1030 15 "The face of gold was decorated at Agra by Jahangir Shah, [son of] Shah Akbar"
Joseph H. Durkee, New York (until d. 1898; bequeathed to MMA)
New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Following the Stars: Images of the Zodiac in Islamic Art," February 4–August 31, 1997, no. 10.
Carboni, Stefano. Following the Stars: Images of the Zodiac in Islamic Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 10, pp. 26–27, ill. (b/w).
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