ID: 700008605 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008605	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Shah Jahan on Horseback: Leaf from the Shah Jahan Album (detached leaf; Painting by Payag (Indian, active ca. 1591–1658); Calligraph...; verso: ca. 1630; recto: ca. 15...; )

Note: Payag worked for the emperors Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan over the course of a remarkably long, seven-decade career, and his brother Balchand was also a talented painter with whom he collaborated on a handful of paintings. The attribution of this portrait to Payag, written in the border below the painting by Shah Jahan, was recently confirmed by the discovery of a microscopic signature on the golden tip of the emperor’s bow. Shah Jahan is shown in an idealized fashion, with the holy nimbus, or halo, encircling his turbaned head. The fashion of depicting the ruler with a halo is seen from the period of Jahangir onward in Mughal art, when increasingly formalized portraiture comes to characterize Hindustani court art. During Jahangir’s reign a new language of symbols is adopted to represent the ruler, including the iconography of the lion and the lamb, and putti, which were imported from European paintings and prints.

Titles:

Shah Jahan on Horseback: Leaf from the Shah Jahan Album (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

detached leaf [300379890] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Components (hierarchy name), components (objects parts), <components by specific context>, information form components, gathered matter components, leaves (gathered matter))

Classifications:

manuscripts (preferred)

Creation Date: verso: ca. 1630; recto: ca. 1530/1550

Creator Display:

Painting by Payag (Indian, active ca. 1591–1658); Calligrapher: Mir 'Ali Haravi (d. ca. 1550) [preferred,VP]

painter Payag (Indian painter, active ca. 1595-1655) [500034105]

calligrapher Mir 'Ali Husayni Haravi (Persian calligrapher, 1476-1543) [500116607]

Locations:

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, United States) [500125157] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 55.121.10.21

Credit Line: Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955

Address Note: On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 463

Display Materials: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

	watercolor (paint) [300015045]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, paint (coating), <paint by composition or origin>, water-base paint)

	gilding (material) [300379350]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material, metal, <metal by form>)

	paper (fiber product) [300014109]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>)

	ink [300015012]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

Dimensions: 15 1/3 x 10 1/10 in. (38.9 x 25.7 cm)

Cultures:

Indian (preferred)

Islamic

Style/Period/Group/Movement:

	Mughal [300018939] (preferred,style)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, Islamic World| The, Islamic (culture or style), Islamic Indian)

General Subject:

portraits (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	Shah Jahan, Emperor of India (Mughal emperor, ca. 1592-1666) [500245103]
	.....(Non-Artists) (ULAN)

	equestrian portrait [300403976]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by subject type>, portraits) (AAT)

	idealized portrait [300417979]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by subject type>, portraits) (AAT)

	halo (glory) [300375684]
	.....(Physical Attributes Facet, Design Elements (hierarchy name), design elements (attributes), motifs, glories) (AAT)

	horse (species) [300250148]
	.....(Agents Facet, Living Organisms (hierarchy name), living organisms (entities), Eukaryota (domain), Animalia (kingdom), Chordata (phylum), Vertebrata (subphylum), Mammalia (class), Perissodactyla (order), Equidae (family), Equus (genus)) (AAT)

	nastaʻlik [300265532]
	.....(Objects Facet, Components (hierarchy name), components (objects parts), <components by specific context>, information form components, <script and type forms>, scripts (writing), <scripts by form>, Arabic scripts) (AAT)

	Persian-Farsi (language) [300389087]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), language-related concepts, <languages and writing systems>, <languages and writing systems by specific type>, <temporary alphabetical list: languages and writing systems>) (AAT)

Provenance: Jack S. Rofe, Scotland (1929; sale, Sotheby's, London,December 12, 1929, to Kevorkian); [ Hagop Kevorkian, New York, from 1929]; [ Kevorkian Foundation, New York, until 1955; gift and sale to MMA]

Inscriptions: Signature: 55.121.10.21 recto: In Persian, last line of calligraphy: The poor sinner 'Ali the scribe. Microscopic signature of Payag on the golden tip of the emperor’s bow. Inscription in Persian in nasta‘liq script: عمل پایاگ[Work of Payag ]

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

............... Late Shah Jahan Album

Sources and Contributors:
Shah Jahan on Horseback: Leaf from the Shah Jahan Album	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)