Half-circular architectural panel with a design of flowers and vases

White marble and elegant floral decorations became favored architectural features under the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658) and were combined to spectacular effect in the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum he built for his wife. This panel is comparable to other architectural works made during or shortly after Shah Jahan’s reign. The idealized flowers are finely carved and their balanced arrangement lacks the stiff symmetry seen in later works.

Because prevailing imperial tastes were widely adopted throughout the empire, it is difficult to determine whether this panel was commissioned by a Hindu or Muslim patron.

Flowers and gardens, which were associated with the vision of Islamic paradise, captured the imagination of several Mughal emperors. Shah Jahan’s father, Jahangir (reigned 1605–1628) wrote the following verses while visiting the lush valley of Kashmir:
The coquettes of the garden displayed themselves, cheeks adorned, each like a lamp. Buds give off the fragrance of musk from beneath their skin, like musky amulets on the arm of the beloved. . . . A carpet of flowers and greenery laid out in a garden: the lamp of the rose lit by the breeze. The violet has twisted the ends of her locks, tying a tight knot in the heart of the rosebud.*

*Excerpted from The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India, translated by Wheeler M. Thackston, 1999.