"Shah Jahan on Horseback", ca. 1628-30 is a particularly stunning folio from the Shah Jahan Album, by Payag ca. 1591–1658. This imperial court portrait captures the newly crowned Emperor Shah Jahan, striding forth on a fine piebald stallion in a plain turquoise and sage-green sky contained by floral-gilded border. The Emperor is positioned front and center, in complete imperial control, dressed in an extravagant, sheer white jama and ornate orange turban and heavy necklaces of pearls. Behind his head flares a radiant golden nimbus, an iconographic convention inspired by European depictions of Christian saints and the divine kingship of Sasanian Persia that makes clear the Emperor's unqualified sovereignty and cosmic dominion. He holds a long lance effortlessly in one hand; at his side, his sword and bow are sheathed and his bow is distinguished by a microscopically detailed signature of Payag on its golden tip. He has been painstakingly described; every gem, every loose corner of sash, every whisker is portrayed with amazing fidelity. Below, the stylized piebald horse is exquisite in naturalistic rendering of texture and formal elegance, with precisely differentiated dark and white patches contrasting sharply against a low, dark-green ground dotted with small, exquisite wild flowers. Above, swirling drifts of dramatic, pale clouds and paired, swooping birds suggest an attempt at atmosphere, referencing Payag's known use of the European device of chiaroscuro and dramatic lighting seen in his night and battle pieces. It is this blending of total imperial flattery with psychic force that distinguishes the works of Payag, painting in the golden age of Mughal court painting. Standard equestrian portraiture is transmuted into an iconic representation of "The Grand Mughal". An unencumbered, isolated space, intended as a deliberate act to promote a perfect vision of the utopian emperor, in which Shah Jahan transcends his function as ruler to become a veritable divine image traversing his perfectly formed world.

Loading Interpretations....