DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53064#0036
30
(3) In the first period, the Persian pointed arch is
used almost exclusively. In the second period flat arches,
very often indented, command the style. They were not taken
over from Persia which, as far as we can see, did not know
them. They are quite a commonplace form in old Islamic
as well as in Indian architecture, but they are special
features of the later Moghul buildings.
(4) There exists a special vault in Shah Jahan’s
buildings for covering rectangular rooms. It is very flat and
pointed to the four edges. It looks rather like the back of an
elephant, and should be called so. This form is not known
elsewhere but in India, The most beautiful specimens are to be
found in the luxurious houses on the highway which leads
from Jaipur to Amber.
(5) In Shah Jahan’s buildings the lower parts of the
walls are usually decorated with reliefs of single plants,
every one complete with leaves, buds and flowers. The
history of this form started from the house of the Rumi Sul-
tana in Fatehpur Sikri, where the dados were filled with land-
scapes, full of realistic trees, plants and animals. There is
no doubt that these were copied in relief from Persian paint-
ings. But it is characteristic that every plant is singled out
and placed besides the next, while the Western perspective
would place each behind the other. There are also flower
vases in this decoration. Akbar’s tombstone, ordered by
Jahangir, is just a monument of transition. The flowers are
singled out, but are ordered as if they were in a bed. At the
same time the dados of the Taj show flower vases set besides
each other, and single flowers growing from little heaps
of earth. Similar forms are used in Amber. Shah Jahan’s
palaces generally show single flowers worked out most
exactly. So they look like specimens of Flora taken from a
compendium on Botany.
It must be mentioned that this motive as many others
occurs also as stone mosaics. It is very difficult to say where
this technique originated, which first appears on Akbar’s
tomb. It does not seem to be known in Persia, but is well
known in Europe especially in Florence. Only the style
differs completely. No specimen but the background of
Shah Jahan’s Diwan-i-am in Delhi shows the European
illusionistic rounding. We know that the artist was one
Austin de Bordeau, a Frenchman. The art of architectural
enamelling has now vanished completely.
(6) Perhaps the most interesting of all the decora-
tions are the little niches arranged as ornaments on the walls.
(3) In the first period, the Persian pointed arch is
used almost exclusively. In the second period flat arches,
very often indented, command the style. They were not taken
over from Persia which, as far as we can see, did not know
them. They are quite a commonplace form in old Islamic
as well as in Indian architecture, but they are special
features of the later Moghul buildings.
(4) There exists a special vault in Shah Jahan’s
buildings for covering rectangular rooms. It is very flat and
pointed to the four edges. It looks rather like the back of an
elephant, and should be called so. This form is not known
elsewhere but in India, The most beautiful specimens are to be
found in the luxurious houses on the highway which leads
from Jaipur to Amber.
(5) In Shah Jahan’s buildings the lower parts of the
walls are usually decorated with reliefs of single plants,
every one complete with leaves, buds and flowers. The
history of this form started from the house of the Rumi Sul-
tana in Fatehpur Sikri, where the dados were filled with land-
scapes, full of realistic trees, plants and animals. There is
no doubt that these were copied in relief from Persian paint-
ings. But it is characteristic that every plant is singled out
and placed besides the next, while the Western perspective
would place each behind the other. There are also flower
vases in this decoration. Akbar’s tombstone, ordered by
Jahangir, is just a monument of transition. The flowers are
singled out, but are ordered as if they were in a bed. At the
same time the dados of the Taj show flower vases set besides
each other, and single flowers growing from little heaps
of earth. Similar forms are used in Amber. Shah Jahan’s
palaces generally show single flowers worked out most
exactly. So they look like specimens of Flora taken from a
compendium on Botany.
It must be mentioned that this motive as many others
occurs also as stone mosaics. It is very difficult to say where
this technique originated, which first appears on Akbar’s
tomb. It does not seem to be known in Persia, but is well
known in Europe especially in Florence. Only the style
differs completely. No specimen but the background of
Shah Jahan’s Diwan-i-am in Delhi shows the European
illusionistic rounding. We know that the artist was one
Austin de Bordeau, a Frenchman. The art of architectural
enamelling has now vanished completely.
(6) Perhaps the most interesting of all the decora-
tions are the little niches arranged as ornaments on the walls.