Description: The Emperors' Album: Images of Mughal India (9x12in, 320 pages, 1987) 128 illustrations, including 52 colorplates; chart of borders of album leaves; Chronology; Glossary; Bibliography; and Index Condition: New. Some light color fading on the edges of the pages and some color fading in small corners of inner dust jacket. Back of the dust jacket has wear on the top left edge corner and three dot sized dirt marks on the top right corner. Color fading (?) in a small rectangular segment on the top left of dust jacket. No other defects. Signed by one of the authors Marie "Mimi" Swietochoski and a second person, presumably editor of the book Kathleen Howard.Autograph inscription suggest owner of this book took part in the making of it. He is only named on a first name basis and is unknown. In the books Acknowledgments one "friend[] within the [Metropolitan] Museum" "George Berard" is thanked. Description from Inner Dust Jacket: "THE EMPERORS' ALBUM: Images of Mughal India Stuart Cary Welch Annemarie Schimmel Marie L. Swietochowski Wheeler M. Thackston The Emperors' Album: Images of Mughal India is a landmark publication. Here the fifty leaves that form the Kevorkian Album, one of the world's great assemblages of Mughal art and calligraphy, are presented together for the first time. Thirty-nine leaves date from the seventeenth century; the other eleven leaves were created in the early nineteenth century and were bound with the earlier ones, most probably by a Delhi art dealer. The resulting album took its name from Hagop Kevorkian, a noted benefactor of the Metropolitan Museum and of many other cultural institutions, who purchased it in London in 1929. Over the next decades nine of the leaves went to the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and in 1951 the remaining forty-one leaves came to the Metropolitan Museum. The seventeenth-century leaves include masterpieces of Mughal portraiture, superb natural history studies, and magnificent specimens of calligraphy. Commissioned by the great emperors Jahangir and Shahjahan, these works were meant for private enjoyment-images to be shared with delight by the imperial family and their close friends. These pictures were created in the imperial ateliers by the greatest artists of the day. In Stuart Cary Welch's introduction and in the texts he has written for each painting, these artists are identified, and the biographical information available for each is given. The influences that molded their works-the Persian and Deccani conventions that were so important in the development of the Mughal style-are discussed, as are the European elements, most notable in the floral borders, which show the impact of herbals brought to India by European missionaries and traders. Welch's historical introduction is extended and expanded by the biographical essays Wheeler M. Thackston has contributed for the subjects of each of the portraits. Based on primary sources, these accounts are an invaluable overview of the Mughal world. But these great pictures make up only half the Kevorkian Album. As important are the calligraphic pages, which include specimens by major scribes, most especially Mir- 'Ali. In her introduction Annemarie Schimmel discusses the paramount place accorded calligraphy in the Muslim aesthetic. She also assesses Mir-'Ali's accomplishments as a calligrapher and as a poet. The poetry in the Kevorkian Album is an anthology of the verses prized by the Mughal elite; in her comments on each of the leaves Schimmel identifies and translates this poetry. The rich borders of Mughal album leaves are extraordinary works of art in themselves. Marie L. Swietochowski's carefully argued introduction discusses not only the leaves from the Kevorkian Album but also those from the Minto and Wantage albums and from other sources. In her remarks on individual leaves from the Kevorkian Album, she comments on stylistic differences and provides identifications of plants, birds, and animals. The Emperors' Album is a book for scholar and layperson alike. Here the reader enters the heart of a civilization whose glories still shine forth, embodied in painting and script. Three of the authors are members of the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Stuart Cary Welch, Special Consultant in Charge of the Department; Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, Special Consultant; and Marie L. Swietochowski, Associate Curator. Dr. Schimmel is also Professor of Indo-Muslim Culture at Harvard University. Dr. Wheeler M. Thackston is Senior Preceptor of Persian at Harvard University. 128 illustrations, including 52 colorplates; chart of borders of album leaves; Chronology; Glossary; Bibliography; and Index Front cover: Detail from pl. 55, Shahjahan and Prince Dara-Shikoh Toy with Jewels The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York Printed in Italy"
Price: 55 USD
Location: Garwood, New Jersey
End Time: 2025-01-12T00:46:15.000Z
Shipping Cost: 8.38 USD
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Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Signed By: Marie Swietochoski, Kathleen Howard
Book Title: Emperors' Album : Images of Mughal India
Signed: Yes
Book Series: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Narrative Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Metropolitan Museaum of Art
Item Length: 9.2 in
Original Language: English
Intended Audience: Ages 9-12, Young Adults, Adults
Publication Year: 1987
Type: Picture Book
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Illustrator: Mughal, Nanha, Ustad Mansur, Mir' Ali Haravi
Era: 1980s
Item Height: 12.5 in
Author: Annemarie Schimmel, Marie Swietochoski, Wheeler M. Thackston, Stuart Cary Welch, Cary Welch
Features: Dust Jacket, Illustrated
Genre: Antiquarian & Collectible, Art & Culture, Biographies & True Stories, Historical, History, Imagery, Politics & Society, Travel
Topic: Art History, Artists, Cultural History, Decorative Art, Fine Arts, History of Ideas, Periods of Art, Regional History, Social History, World History, Asia / India & South Asia
Country/Region of Manufacture: Italy
Subjects: Art & Culture
Item Weight: 4.6 lbs
Number of Pages: 318 Pages
