The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States (not currently on view), Department of Islamic Art; Object No. 55.121.10.35.
Govardhan as the artist here was already initiated to the Mughal art traditions through being a son to his father Bhishan Das, who was a painter in the imperial workshop. Govardhan worked mostly for the royal court of Jahangir and Shah Jahan doing portraits of royal, religious and ordinary persons and a sizeable number of flora and fauna. In this painting, the prince is the young Shah Shuja, elder of the sons of Shah Jahan who declared himself Emperor after his father fell ill. He was famously removed by his powerful younger brother Aurangzeb and relegated to Assam.
He is seen here spending time in intimacy with a female partner, not his wife. The intimacy is gentle not strongly erotic. The face of the prince though young at the time is drawn with a mature body perhaps suggesting his maturity in handling courtly affairs as the able Governor of Bengal. The two are bedecked with jewels and tasteful clothes made of transparent muslin with gold threads. Govardhan had a penchant for depicting his figures as softly modelled yet accurately placed to make out both their facial features. Notice the prince’s eyes turned upwards as if to suggest the ethereal nature of intimacy between the two. Govardhan’s works are known for such empathic representations.
One must see Govardhan as a symbol of the social milieu of the times. The Perso- Islamic art’s characteristic use of geometric patterns, lines are visible in the cloth patterns and in the form of plant life and the borders. Persian art celebrates ideas of love through expressions of the flowers and gardens which is framing this art piece’s backdrop. The Hindu arts of pre- Islamic times laid special importance to depictions of nature and wildlife- a characteristic loved by the Mughal emperors who wished to celebrate it. This painting too celebrates it. A sizeable number of Europeans were present at the court of the royal emperors Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jahan. Possibly, Govardhan was aware of Christian art traditions and the religious paintings they did. Though not clear in the above painting, it is clearly evidenced by his application of Elizabethan motifs of lion and calf in the painting “Akbar with Lion and Calf” including a background of Dutch style. Govardhan’s art thus is symbolic of the cosmopolitan atmosphere encouraging diversity and eclecticism in culture at the time.
Govardhan’s Shah Shuja with Beloved (a single folio from the Shah Jahan Album) is not just a tender courtly scene, it is rather an ode to affection within the most rigid of courtly lives. The painting illustrates Shuja in pristine white and gold attire leaning beside the favored beloved. Hand and finger positions suggest quiet affection between the two which is framed within a profusely and unusually golden decorative floral border, thus demonstrating that love even can be confined to the grandeur and confinements of the royal court. Metropolitan Museum of Art records the folio to have been painted by Govardhan circa 1632.
To me, the most compelling aspect of this painting is the juxtaposition between the enormous and practically empty green expanse and the tightly framed duo. Love to me is capable of building a world separate from all systems of power and protocol and this painting, to me is a testament to that thought. This Painting is quite subtly placing its individuals back to being human; the human beneath the imperial clothing and the familial name yearns for companionship and love.
