Panchronia

Mughal Art

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c. 1526 – 1748 · Asia · architecture, painting, decorative arts · origin: Agra

Persian garden, Timurid dome and Indian stone: paradise symmetry in white marble and red sandstone

Mughal Art
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

How to recognise it

Why it emerged

Timur's descendants brought Persian court culture and a love of gardens to India, and Humayun returned from Iran with miniature painters. Akbar and his heirs merged this with local Rajput workshops to assert a Muslim dynasty's rule over a religiously diverse land.

Examples

Humayun's Tombc. 1565–1572 · Mirak Mirza GhiyasIndia's first garden tomb with a double dome in a charbagh, the prototype of the Taj MahalHamzanamac. 1562–1577 · Mir Sayyid Ali, Abd al-Samad and Akbar's workshopAbout 1,400 large paintings on cloth: the project that forged the Mughal miniature schoolFatehpur Sikric. 1571–1585Akbar's red sandstone capital blending Hindu and Islamic forms; abandoned after about 15 yearsTaj Mahal1632–1653 · Ustad Ahmad LahauriMumtaz Mahal's tomb, peak of the Mughal synthesis: white marble, pietra dura, perfect symmetryRed Fort1639–1648 · Ustad Ahmad LahauriShah Jahan's palace-fortress; India's prime minister speaks from its ramparts every Independence Day

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