Illustrated and Illuminated Album Leaf: Lovers Embracing, Mughal, India, Circa 1675

gouache heightened with gold on paper, the central image of two lovers embracing on a terrace, margins decorated with naturalistic floral sprays, the reverse with calligraphic panel, margins of dark blue splashed with gold

Previously part of the Mehdi Mahboubian collection

Pal et al, Romance of the Taj Mahal, New Delhi, 1989, no.127

In good condition, miniature clean, minor flaking and rubbing, verso with calligraphy also rubbed with small passages of staining and some smudging, otherwise clean and strong, as viewed.
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The refined marginal illumination of this album page is a tribute to the Mughal emperors' concern with the natural world. Beginning with Babur (r.1526-1530) the dynasty's early rulers expressed an interest in the natural world, and their memoirs are full of allusions to the beauty of a bird or plant that caught their attention. The Mughal royal patrons encouraged their ateliers to observe all aspects of the natural world in great detail, and to study European herbals in circulation at court. Animals, plants and birds were recorded by the Mughal masters such as Manohar and Mansur, particularly under the patronage of the Emperor Jahangir (r.1604-1628). By the Shah Jahan period (r.1628-1658) a precise observation of the natural world was often displayed in the borders of royal albums, where despite the stylised context and framework, the artists still achieved great precision and a glowing naturalism in the depiction of individual animals, birds and plants. By the reign of Aurangzeb, under which the patronage of this album page falls, Mughal miniature painting had become increasingly stylised and less naturalistic; however the beautiful margins of this leaf indicate that the art was not entirely lost in some quarters. 

The inspiration for the central image would also appear to build upon the legacy of Shah Jahan, where the themes of love and romance were first fully developed. Due to an increasingly orthodox state the popularity of painting was in decline in the late seventeenth century, but artists still practised, looking to a previous era for inspiration. As with the marginal illumination, the central image is again an indication of the achievements of artists from the reign of Aurangzeb, despite the limitations imposed on them.