Signet of the King of Delhi, Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah Badshah Ghazi
| Support Type: | Paper |
| Paint Type: | Watercolor |
| Current Location: | Part of a privately owned complete album of 31 miniatures paintings (sold through Bonhams Auction House, London, New Bond Street under the category of Islamic & Indian Art) |
“Signet of the King of Delhi, Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah Badshah Ghazi,” by Ghulam Ali Khan, at the Smithsonian, features the central script written in Arabic-Persian, which makes up the imperial insignia. The whole design is highly decorated, all that gold, symmetrical and so architectural, as if in stone architecture, a piece so concerned to project dynasty. In some ways the effect for me is really quite profound, here’s the last Mughal emperor, the king de jure of India, for nearly a generation under direct British suzerainty. This is a display not of kingly power, but kingly presence. And all these other names that go in the medallions outside the border. He goes to a lot of trouble to prove he has legitimacy. So I see the work here as being a reflection on authority and lineage and impermanence, that you can use ornament to go forever, at the time you realize it’s really going away.