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

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

An exquisite Indian Company painting showing precious stone ornamentation inlaid into the white marble on 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 cream wove paper with blind stamp to the paper at the upper right corner. Although this blindstamp is illegible, others from the same collection are legible as 'Wynne Bath' around a central crown.