Description
A night heron, 1630Ā1640, from the Dara Shikoh album
The Dara Shikoh album is a collection of paintings and calligraphy assembled during the 1630s by Dara Shikoh (1615Ā1659), the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan (builder of the Taj Mahal), and presented to his wife Nadira Banu Begum in 1641Ā1642. One of the few Moghul albums to have survived almost complete, it is bound in tooled and gilded covers, and each artwork is mounted on its leaf within gold-painted borders. Dara Shikoh was executed in 1659 by his younger brother Aurangzib, who had emerged victorious in the wars waged between Shah Jahan's four sons. Nadira Banu kept the album until her death, when it was taken to the royal library. This exquisite manuscript album is now in the collection of the British Library. - INDIVIDUAL ITEM RRP Ā£1.992
