The Great Mughals

Art, Architecture and Opulence

Susan Stronge

$80

Hardback

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English

Victoria & Albert Pubs
04 February 2025

History of art & design styles: c 1600 to c 1800; History; Asian history; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700

The Great Moghuls presents for the first time the opulent, internationalist culture of Moghul Hindustan in the age of its greatest emperors: Akbar (r. 1556–1605), Jahangir (r. 1605–1627) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658). Providing a compelling new narrative to describe the origins of Moghul art, it explores how a huge Iranian influence permeated the sophisticated craft traditions of the Indian subcontinent to create a distinctively Moghul style, further modified by interactions with Jesuit missionaries and European traders. All the arts of the Moghul court are included: from contemporary portraits to jewelled gold vessels and magnificent carpets. In chapters that conjure the unique dynamics of each reign, essays with historical sweep combine with texts focused on important objects to tell unexpected stories about a dynasty perhaps best known for commissioning the Taj Mahal.

Edited by: Susan Stronge
Imprint: Victoria & Albert Pubs
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 287mm, Width: 247mm,
ISBN: 9781838510367
ISBN 10: 1838510362
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 04 February 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface, Susan Stronge -- Introduction, Rajeev Kinra -- THE REIGN OF AKBAR (1556-1605) -- The reign of Akbar and the creation of a new art, Susan Stronge -- The bronze and copper wares of Mughal Hindustan, Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani -- The Portuguese and the global gem trade, Hugo Crespo -- A V&A Koran the imperial Mughal collection, Ursula Sims-Williams -- The Bargello mother-of-pearl shield and its European reception, Adriana Concin -- THE REIGN OF JAHANGIR (1605-27) and Nur Jahan -- The reign of Jahangir: The treasury of the world, Susan Stronge -- Sa'ida-ye Gilani and the jades of Hindustan, Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani -- Mughal Carpets, Steven Cohen -- A Sufi ode from a vanished Lahore mosque, 1615-16, Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani -- All that glitters: An early Mughal Zardozi canopy -- The making of the V&A Mughal coat, Avalon Fotheringham -- The zodiacal and portrait coins of Emperor Jahangir: Art and poetry in circulation, Shailendra Bhandare -- THE REIGN OF SHAH JAHAN (1628-58) -- The reign of Shah Jahan: the Garden of Paradise, Susan Stronge -- Mughal Textiles and Dress, Sylvia Houghteling -- Plumes, pets and pishkesh: Exotic animals and the Great Mughals, Peter Jarman -- The 'Fire-Bearing' sword of Emperor Jahangir: A Mughal dynastic heirloom, Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani -- Chinese porcelain in the Mughal treasury, Ricarda Brosch -- Architectural drawings, Divia Patel -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Author biographies -- Acknowledgements -- Picture credits -- Index

Susan Stronge is Senior Curator, Asia Department at the V&A

Reviews for The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence

Featured in Great lives: luxury books for spring 2025, Gavanndra Hodge, The Times, 1st March 2025 'a particular beauty', Gavanndra Hodge, The Times, 13th December 2024 '...as much a work of scholarship as an art object worthy of any collection dedicated to the marvels of world history.' Artlyst, 7 November 2024 'can be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in Indian art.', Farida Ali, Asian Review of Books, 3rd December 2024 'Sometimes the magnificence of a book takes away one's breath: The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence - is one' Margaret Graham, Frost Magazine, December 8th 2024 From the ramparts of the Agra fort, the Mughal Emperors once ruled over the greatest and most populous of all Muslim Empires. The Mughals claimed the loyalty of some 100 million subjects- five times the number of those ruled by their Ottoman rivals, and many times that ruled by their westerly neighbours, the Safavids of Isfahan. Perhaps more than any other Islamic dynasty, the Mughals made their love of architecture and the arts a central part of their identity as rulers, believing that artists and architects were, in the words of the Emperor Humayun, ""the delight of all the world."" In this magnificent catalogue of her astonishing V&A show, Susan Stronge brings together a beautifully curated treasury of the greatest wonders to survive from one of the most elegant and refined courts in world history. Mixing the art of Timurid Central Asia with that of Hindu Rajasthan and cross fertilising both of these with new ideas brought from Jesuit Portugal and Jacobean London, the Mughals created an entirely new aesthetic. Their kharkhanas and khazanas became a new world of artistic expression marked by unprecedented experimentation in miniature painting and ivory and jade carving, a world of silken hangings and coats of gilded and inscribed Mughal armour. Here can be found teak furniture inlaid with mother of pearl, emerald-set daggers and diamond-studded scabbards, jade drinking cups in the form of antelope beside balustrades of Makrana marble studded with gleaming semi-precious stones the colour of pigeon's blood, yellow topaz and lizard-green gems. This, truly, is the art of a golden age. William Dalrymple, 2nd July 2024