A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c19.s5.14

c19.s5.14

The decline and fall of the Mughal empire during the eighteenth century necessarily involved the rapid decay of the arts which had ministered to the splendour of the imperial court. Among other arts that of producing *pietra dura* inlay had been almost forgotten until about 1830, when Dr. Murray, Inspector-General of Hospitals, induced the craftsmen to revive it for commercial purposes. Since that time it has been practised sufficiently to provide a constant supply of pretty trifles for European tourists and visitors, but nobody dreams of decorating a building in the fashion which appealed to Shahjahān the Magnificent. The plaques and other inlaid objects now made at Agra are too familiar to need illustration. A selection of first-class specimens is figured in *Indian Art at Delhi*, Plate 17—A.