A MUGHAL CODE OF CONNOISSEURSHIP

Abstract

The exercise of connoisseurship on Mughal paintings is practically irresistible. The paintings are varied in subject and have a level of formal detail which rewards sustained scrutiny. Because so many illustrated Mughal manuscripts are securely dated, most individual Mughal paintings can be dated to within a few years, and many are signed by or ascribed to individual artists. The availability of this kind of documentation has encouraged scholars to make extraordinarily subtle distinctions among the careers and personal styles of various imperial painters. Most scholars assume that the Mughal emperors had a similar focus on the artist, and point to Jahangir's singular claim to this brand of connoisseurship: