Jahangir presents Shah-Jahan with a turban ornament

'Jahangir Presents Prince Khurram with a Turban Ornament, The Padshahnama' ca. 1617, by Payag (ca. 1591-1658). Folio 195r from the Windsor 'Padshahnama'. A large burnished and incised gold border frames the folio; the painting itself is organized vertically so that all is in ascension. The eyes of each of the nearly thirty courtiers assembled on the lower level of the composition are cast diagonally across the space and rise incessantly until they reach, as though by visual magnification, the two figures of authority perched in the uppermost reaches of the scene-Jahangir, ensconced on bolsters behind a window-like alcove and, standing in the lower corner, the recipient of a royal present, Prince Khurram-the future Shah Jahan. This is not a depiction of an event, but a diagram of power constructed as theater. A densely crowded throng of male figures fills two-thirds of the composition before the platform where the princes stand, their backs mostly to the viewer so that their elaborately detailed robes are all that is visible. No two faces are the same, Payag paints each courtier with the detail that only an observer truly present could achieve-the droopy-lidded nobleman in his gold turban on the far left; the figure in center foreground dressed in crimson whose half-turned back and richly embroidered silk jama invite the viewer’s gaze; the white-turbaned prime minister I’timaduddawla whose saffron jama is a strong center of visual interest in the middleground. Payag chooses for the courtiers an amazing array of colors-cinnabar red, saffron, forest green, violet, mauve, deep burgundy-but ensures that each is of slightly less value than the figures above, thus releasing the eye through a spectrum of the finest available to the Mughal empire toward the essential individuals of this scene. Architecturally, the two figures occupy a jharokha, a formal gallery or balcony supported by carved gold columns, under a carved orange and arabesque ceiling. This architectural space is decorated on the interior with intricately rendered botanicals painted in white ink, flowers and budding branches from a Mughal tradition of scientific observation-made merely ornamental wallpaper in this instance to serve a moment of imperial transfer. Four European portrait paintings are inlaid into the top two wall sections, and though it may seem anachronous to mention them given this ceremony took place in 1617, their inclusion is drawn from Jahangir’s known fascination with the portraits he received as diplomatic gifts from the European powers, indicating his own imperial power to co-opt elements of all cultures to serve his vision of empire. On the right between the two foreground columns a very large, spectacular tassel in crimson and gold hangs-an almost absurd piece of object d'art, with no other purpose than to signify extraordinary status to the scene itself. Behind the two princes Jahangir, haloed by a golden radiating disk (the shamsa signifying divine light), wears a gold jama detailed with an embroidered floral pattern in red and leans back on the red pillows behind him. He offers what seems to be a jeweled turban ornament or possibly even a flower-his memoir, the Jahangirnama, tells us he presented Khurram with a jeweled dagger, a jeweled sword and a charqab, a rich outer robe of brocade and gold thread. Khurram, facing him with the same golden shamsa circling his brow, wears an illuminated white and gold jama set against the pink blossoms of the rear wall, and to his right, an effete eunuch, hand raised in what has to be an incredibly perfunctory gesture, indicates that the ceremony has reached a formal point. Inserted in between the crowd and the architectural staging of power is a passage of grisaille, that painted "ghost-work." At its center is a globe, on top of which are two mullahs, and under which lie a lion and an ox. This is derived from the title page of the Polyglot Bible brought to court by the Jesuits in 1580 and signifies an Isian, or Christian, eschatological moment. At this juncture in history, a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian all stood with the ruler; this inclusion, therefore, made an imperial claim of universal rule for Jahangir and Shah Jahan not only by Islamic standards of sovereignty but by any standard, as both have universal sovereign power, both in the Islamic world and universally. In the lower left-hand corner of the folio there is a solitary figure sitting with a folder containing the names of everyone in the painting: it has been established that he was the artist, Payag, with his self-identification written at the bottom of the folder in an incredibly tiny script: allah akbar raqam-e Payag baradar-e Balchand- "God is great! Drawn by Payag, brother of Balchand." Mughal court painters invariably include themselves in imperial scenes, and his need to name his brother implies that Balchand had greater renown as a painter than he at this time, ca. 1640, though of course his fame would soon pass him. This is not an accurate rendering of the moment 12 October 1617, Mandu. Rather, it is a reconstruction by Shah Jahan as an emperor, during his own rule, fifteen years after this moment: the transfer of imperial authority was orderly, legitimate, divinely sanctioned, and cosmic. Payag has provided for his patron the visual proof. The light of the sun seems almost dream-like here compared to some other Mughal paintings; Shah Jahan was the greatest patron in Mughal history. His atelier employed a wide number of brilliant painters. Payag's palette, here as in other paintings attributed to him, is particularly noted by Okada and the Royal Collection Trust for its unusual quality; it has a mellow, dream-like feel which seems to lend all of his compositions an elevated sense of memory transformed into myth.

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