Indian Company School Pietra Dura Ornament, Cenotaph of Shah Jahan, Taj Mahal, Agra

An original 19th-century watercolour painting – Indian Company School, Pietra Dura Ornament, Cenotaph of Shah Jahan, Taj Mahal, Agra.

An exquisite Indian Company painting showing pietra dura inlaid marble ornamentation from the cenotaph of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan at the Taj Mahal.

The cenotaph of Shah Jahan lies alongside that of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal (d.1632), for whom Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. The actual tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal are in a chamber directly beneath their cenotaphs.

This painting is a fine example of an Indian Company painting, produced for Western (especially British) patrons in India in the 19th century, many of whom were working for the East India Company. It displays the striking hybrid techniques which led to the categorisation of the ‘Company’ style as a School. While incorporating traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting, they were given a more 'western' appearance through their use of perspective and rounded modelling, as opposed to the more decorative, 'flatter' styles that had gone before.

On watermarked J Whatman 1823 cream wove paper.