Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c16.1.4

c16.1.4

On the same level as Shah Jahan and facing him, with folded hands and respectful mien, are his two elder sons, Dara Shikoh and Shuja, accompanied by their tutor. In the rich colouring shown by the costumes of striped and flowered brocades, in the range of shades of the complexions, from the fair-skinned Persians down to the swarthy Indian menials, each face being a studied likeness, in its fullness of detail (even the features on the small portrait brooches worn on the turbans of some of the officials being recognizable), as an example of Mughal painting this miniature holds a high place. And in the centre of the composition, emphasized by a radiant nimbus, is the refined face of the emperor, to whose aesthetic mind not a little of the artistic and architectural wealth of India is due.