Highlighting the Visual Idiom in Mughal History
Nuzhat Kazmi
WONDER OF THE AGE: MASTER PAINTERS OF INDIA 1100-1900 by John Guy Metropolitan Mesuem of Art, New York in association with Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 2012, 224 pp., 2100
May 2012, volume 36, No 5

Here is another meticulous book, well thought out and jointly authored by two scholars of select works of Indian painting covering nearly seven hundred years of its history. The framework within which the authors, John Guy and Jorrit Britschgi, write is interesting and engaging. They have some interesting details and include recent research analysis. Coming from the Metropolitan Mu-seum of Art, New York and the Mapin Publishing House, as this book/catalogue is, the design and quality of print and colour plates is excellent. A pleasure to go through the book, which is initially a catalogue of an important exhibition, also entitled ‘Wonder of the Age: Masters Painters of India, 1100-1900’, a collaborative exercise involving two Museums, the Museum Reitberg in Zurich and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and many scholars from all over the world.

The painting on the cover of Shah Jahan riding a stallion sets a cheerful note to the book and is remarkable for its many inherent qualities. It is a page from the Kevorkian Album, created in the Mughal imperial atelier at Agra, ca. 1628.

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