Naqsha Rauza-i-Taj Mahal

This small Company Painting in the style of a Mughal miniature is historically important, as it comes from the seminal cusp of the retreat of the Mughal empire into history and the advent of the new political order in the sub-continent. Irrespective of the ruler of the day, the seventeenth century marble monument to love has always enthralled, and this one must have elicited gasps of wonder from admirers in England. This work seems to be done by an Indian artist—perhaps a former court painter—as it carries an inscription in Persian.