ABSTRACT
Sometime after the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628–58) succeeded to the throne, the royal artist Hashim (fl. seventeenth century) painted his patron's portrait (Figure 4.2.1). 1 In this work, housed today in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C., Shah Jahan appears in strict side profile, a golden nimbus radiating from his head, as three angels emerge from billowing clouds above to deliver to him a crown, a chhatri (parasol), and a shamshir (curved sword). In his right hand he clasps a straight blade sword with a gem-encrusted scabbard, and in his left, he holds a large, cut carnelian stone set in gold. The rest of the ruler's accoutrements are similarly grandiose. Pearls, rubies, spinels, and emeralds adorn his rings, bracelets, armbands, necklaces, turban, belt, and katar (a short-bladed dagger with a horizontal hand grip); and his jama (stitched coat) appears to be made of the very finest, diaphanous cotton muslin. Depicted in this fashion, Shah Jahan seems to embody the bountiful natural and human-made riches of the region over which he rules: the most highly prized muslin came from the wealthy Mughal province of Bengal in eastern India, and carnelian, pearls, rubies, and spinels were readily sourced across South Asia.
