The Taj Mahal, India, Company School, Agra, 19th century

The Taj Mahal was built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal by her grieving husband, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, when she died in childbirth in 1632. It took almost twenty-two years to be completed. The present painting is a view of the Taj Mahal from the river Jumna. The red sandstone buildings on either side of the main building – the mosque to the west, and the guest house (mihman khana) to the east – have been excluded. All three buildings sit on a nine-metre high marble and sandstone terrace known as the chameli farsh or 'jasmine floor'.

The white marble used by Mughal craftsmen lends a delicate quality to the mausoleum. The façade of the tomb as well as its interior is exquisitely decorated with floral patterns and verses from the Qur’an. The panels of pietra dura inlay at the Taj Mahal are the finest examples of this type of decoration during the Mughal period.

The present painting is notable for its unusual view of the Taj Mahal, painted from the river. Although the reflections of boats and trees are vague and formless, the reflection of the Taj Mahal itself is rendered with a soft precision, bending the rules of physics to draw in the viewer and create an ethereal scene.

The painting is attributed to the otherwise unknown artist 'Mohd Ga Kole Khan', possibly a transcription of the name Muhammad Jah Quli Khan, in an inscription on the back. It is quite rare for the name of an Indian draughtsman to be included. The names of only two Agra artists working on similar architectural drawings in the early nineteenth century are known, Shaykh Ghulam 'Ali and Shaykh Latif.

The city of Agra was captured from the Marathas by the British in 1803, who greatly admired the Mughal buildings of Agra, Sikandra and Fatehpur Sikri. Several albums comprising views of Mughal monuments, especially the Taj Mahal, including details of inlaid marble decoration, were prepared by Agra artists for British patrons in the period between 1803 and 1840, reflecting the tastes of the time. Drawings of the Taj Mahal were also prepared to conserve the buildings of the funerary complex. Based on European architectural draughtsmen’s drawings, some of these were sent to London in 1808, where a conservation committee for Mughal monuments had been set up (Dalrymple 2019, p.149).

Other comparable views depicting the Taj Mahal produced by Agra artists for British patrons in the early nineteenth century, were sold in these rooms, 1 May 2019, lot 126, 10 June 2020, lot 148, and 31 March 2021, lot 49.