The Poet and the Prince, 1595-1597. Salim Quli. Watercolor and gold paint on paper. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust.
This album page was created for Emperor Jahangir and depicts a young Mughal prince and his attendant, identifiable by their turbans and attire. They stand in the presence of a Persian Sufi poet or scholar, who wears a different style of turban and a distinguished chola (overcoat). The scene is set outdoors next to a babbling brook and beneath a flowering tree where the group, with open books in hand, engage in lively conversation. The accurately rendered figures and natural setting are typical of the high degree of skill of Mughal court artists at the end of the 16th century.
Calligraphy was considered the highest art form in historical Islamic cultures. Master calligraphers were like famous artists today; they were well known, they signed their works and art connoisseurs like Emperor Jahangir could recognize the work of a specific calligrapher from his writing style. Examples of calligraphy were collected and preserved in albums and were frequently mounted with painted and illuminated borders. This folio from Jahangir’s Gulshan Album demonstrates the format of Imperial Mughal albums, which displayed paintings and calligraphy on reverse pages.
