A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c19.s1: Section II. Coins, Gems, and Seals
A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c19.s1
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Section II. Coins, Gems, and Seals
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It is a common error to suppose that the ancient Semitic prohibition of images, repeated in the Koran, invariably prevented Muhammadan artists from representing the forms of living creatures, real or imaginary. As a matter of fact, the prohibition, although respected as a rule, has been disregarded frequently in almost every Musalman country from the earliest ages of Islam to the present day, and especially in those countries, like Persia, where the Shīa sect prevails. The introduction of figure types in many ancient Muhammadan coinages was due to the business necessity of maintaining for a time the forms of currency to which people had become accustomed. For example, when the Sassanian dynasty of Persia fell in the seventh century the newly appointed Arab governors continued to issue coins in the familiar national form with the king's head, distinguished from the native issues merely by the insertion of Arabic legends in minute characters. In India Muhammad of Ghōr was obliged to accept a similar compromise and even to issue coins bearing the image of a Hindu goddess.
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In most Muhammadan kingdoms such numismatic compromises with idolatry were only temporary, and the die-cutters of the Muslim sovereigns were ordinarily obliged to content themselves with calligraphic devices, on which much skill was lavished. The coins issued by Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlak of Delhi (A. D. 1324–51), who has been called 'the prince of moneyers', are exceptionally brilliant examples of calligraphic art. A specimen is shown in Plate XCVIII, Fig. 1, and may be taken as a typical illustration of well-executed Muhammadan orthodox coinage.
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Akbar, notwithstanding his scant respect for orthodoxy, submitted as a rule to Koranic restrictions in the types of his coinage, which exhibits many varieties of artistic ornamental writing. A highly elaborated specimen, a rupee struck at Agra, is shown in Plate XCVIII, Fig. 5. On three occasions only did he permit himself the luxury of figure types, and the pieces struck on those three occasions are medals rather than ordinary current coins. A falcon (ibid., Fig. 2) commemorates the capture of Asīrgarh, the strong fortress commanding the road to the Deccan. A duck appears on an Agra coin, for some unexplained reason (ibid., Fig. 4). Both birds are well designed and surrounded by pretty floral scrolls. A curious piece, exhibiting the figures of a crowned archer and a veiled lady (ibid., Fig. 3), is a memorial of the submission in A.H. 1013 (A. D. 1604–5) of the King of Bījāpur, who gave his daughter in marriage to Prince Dāniyāl, Akbar's youngest son.
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Jahāngīr, although officially a better Musalman than his father, was less orthodox in his coinage. He alone of all the Muhammadan sovereigns of India dared to put his own portrait on coins intended for circulation. He habitually disregarded the Prophet's prohibition of strong drink, and was not ashamed to show himself on the coinage holding a goblet of wine (ibid., Figs. 7, 8). He also indulged in the freak of issuing a coinage, both gold and silver, on which the months were indicated
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1A/ 2N 5A/ 3A/ 4A/ 6A/ 7A/ 8A/ 9A/ 10A/
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Fig. 1. Muḥammad b. Tughlak.
(*B. M. Catal. Coins of Sultans of Delhi*, No. 260.)
Figs. 2–5. Akbar.
(*B. M. Catal. of Coins of Moghul Emperors*, Nos. 166, 172, 173, 250.)
Figs. 6–10. Jahāngīr.
(Ibid., Nos. 315, 319, 324, 341.)
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Plate XCVIII. Indo-Muhammadan Coins.
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by pictorial symbols of the zodiacal signs, instead of by words or numbers (ibid., Figs. 9, 10). The figure of Virgo is a Europeanized angel.¹ The great bulk, however, of Jahāngīr's coinage is perfectly orthodox in form. His five-mohur piece (ibid., Fig. 6) is an excellent example of first-class calligraphy.
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¹ ‘Mais les beaux chefs-d’œuvre numismatiques sont les délicieuses monnaies d’or de Djehangir (1605–1628) frappées d’animaux et de personnages d’un dessin si parfait et d’un relief si précis et si vif’ (Migeon, *Manuel d’art musulman*, t. ii, p. 164).
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Many of the coins of the later Mughal emperors are well executed, but the specimens given are enough to illustrate the general character of calligraphic dies.
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Muhammadan gems and seals with artistic devices other than calligraphic are necessarily extremely scarce. Mr. King, after referring to the rarity of cameos in purely Oriental style, mentions one conspicuous Muhammadan specimen:—
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‘The most remarkable example of all in the Oriental class,’ he writes, ‘although of modern origin, came to my knowledge among the Webb gems (when sold by Christie and Manson in 1854), the subject being the feat performed by Shāhjahān in cleaving asunder a lion which was mauling a courtier. The inscription consists of two parts [namely], “The portrait of the Second Sahib-Qirān, Shāhjahān the victorious emperor,” and the artist's signature “Made by Kan Atem” [*sic*, the reading is impossible]. The gem probably must be dated early in his reign, for it shows Shāhjahān with a moustache but no beard. He wears a long double row of big pearls round his neck, and, as a pendant, a great convex gem, perhaps the Kohinoor.’²
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² *Ancient Gems and Rings*, London, 1872, pp. 314–16.
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I do not know where the gem so described now is. The feat commemorated was similar to that performed by Shāhjahān, as Prince Khurram, when he rescued Anūp Rāi from the jaws of a tiger.³ The Mughal emperors were men of great personal prowess.
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³ *Memoirs of Jahāngīr*, transl. Rogers and Beveridge (1909), pp. 185–8.
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The only other notable Indo-Muhammadan artistic gem which has come to my notice is the beautiful sardonyx cameo of the Mughal period, bought by Mr. Marshall some years ago and now in the Lahore Museum, which is 3·6 inches broad and 3·3 high. It represents two elephants with riders, locking their tusks and trunks together apparently in combat.⁴ Others may exist in the Pearse collection recently acquired by the Government of India, which is now under examination and not yet available for reference.
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⁴ *Ann. Rep. A. S., India, 1905–6*, p. 40, Fig. 1.