Detail: The Persian word muraqqa‘ means “album,” but more specifically it means “patched” or a “patched garment,” such as the patched cloak worn by Islamic mystics (Sufis) as a sign of poverty and humility. The word came to be applied to albums because of their patchwork construction: each of the album pages included in this exhibition consists of numerous separate pieces of paper, usually produced in both Iran (or Central Asia) and India over a period of one hundred years or more.
Named by The Art Newspaper as one of the top ten Asian exhibitions worldwide for 2008 and back home after a four-venue tour of America, this is a stunning, not-to-be-missed exhibition of paintings from the land of the Taj Mahal. The Library holds one of the finest collections of Indian Mughal paintings in existence, and this exhibition is a rare opportunity to see many of the best of those works.
The exhibition focuses on a group of six albums (muraqqa‘s) compiled in India between about 1600 and 1658 for the Mughal emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan (builder of the Taj Mahal). Each album folio originally consisted of a painting on one side and a panel of calligraphy on the other, all set within beautifully illuminated borders. Many of the paintings are exquisitely rendered portraits of emperors, princes and courtiers—all dressed in the finest textiles and jewels—but there are also images of court life, and of Sufis, saints, and animals.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated, multiple award-winning catalogue.