The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, edited by Susan Stronge, is a visually rich journey through the splendour of Mughal art and design during this influential period.
This volume, timed to accompany an ambitious exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, offers readers an in-depth look at the Mughal Empire’s most significant period under emperors Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan.
The book masterfully examines the tenuous blend of Persian, Central Asian, and European influences the rulers fostered in an attempt to create a unique and fantastic style that has fascinated the world for centuries.
Each chapter develops around the context of an emperor’s reign, taking readers through historical insights complemented by colourful descriptions of the objects that define Mughal magnificence: vessels in gold inlaid with precious stones to lush carpets and exquisite paintings.
Stronge thus presents the range of Mughal ingenuity and the sophisticated manufacture born from cross-cultural exchange. The book offers incomparable insight into how Iranian influences collaborated to create a peculiar Mughal style, highly refined in Central Asia and facilitated by innovations in European art.
As William Dalrymple says so aptly, Stronge has succeeded in doing what few have attempted; thus, The Great Mughals is a “treasury of the greatest wonders to survive from one of the most elegant and refined courts in world history.” Indeed, it celebrates the legacy beyond the Taj Mahal, immersing its readers in an intricate texture and lush colours from the times that have left an indelible mark on world art. This volume, available through the V&A shops at RRP £40, is as much a work of scholarship as an art object worthy of any collection dedicated to the marvels of world history. – PCR
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