NORTH INDIA, MID-19TH CENTURY

These two careful architectural studies show the side elevations of the cenotaphs in the Taj Mahal of Shah Jahan (d.1666) and Arjumand Banu Begum (d.1631), known as Mumtaz Mahal. The white marble cenotaphs are finely inlaid with semi-precious stones to depict floral studies, many of which are botanically accurate (Ebba Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, London, 2006, p. 171). Inlaid in black on the side of Mumtaz Mahal’s tomb is the Qur’an LXXXIII, sura al-Mutaffifin, verses 22-28.

Each of these studies is numbered in pencil in the upper right corner and they would have originally formed two studies from a much larger set of views of the Taj Mahal and other Mughal monuments painted by local artists. The Mughal monuments of Agra were hugely popular amongst the British before they established themselves in the city in the early 19th century and the creation of these albums of accurate studies was necessitated by the need to conserve the monuments. When the Court of Directors requested plans to be sent to London from Calcutta of the Mughal monuments requiring repair, it seems an album of drawing such as the two here was sent (J.P. Losty, “The Master Artists of Delhi and Agra”, in W. Dalrymple (ed.), Forgotten Masters, London, 2019, p.149). A similar study of the top of the cenotaph of Shah Jahan was sold in these Rooms, 24 October 2024, lot 177.