A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c18.83

c18.83

Passing by other notable buildings of Jahāngīr’s reign at Lahore and elsewhere, we come to the reign of his son Shahjahān (1627–58), during which the Indo-Persian style, by universal consent, attained supreme beauty in the Tāj Mahall (1632–53) (Pl. XCVII), the Moti Masjid, or Pearl Mosque at Agra (1646–53) (Fig. 242), and the palace at Delhi (Fig. 243), begun in 1638.¹ Detailed descriptions and criticisms of these edifices and others may be read in the pages of Fergusson, Fanshawe, and innumerable other writers. Here it is possible only to indicate briefly the general character of Shahjahān’s modification of Indo-Persian architecture, give a few typical illustrations, and note certain points of special interest.