Jahangir's China and Other Toys: Mughal Collecting and the Early East India Company

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there arose in Europe a new demand for curiosities. While private collectors sought out exotic curiosities for their own cabinets, public botanical gardens also opened their doors. This essay turns to English attitudes towards Mughal collecting during the early seventeenth century. As active participants in what is now described as the ‘Global Renaissance’ Jahangir, the women in his household including Nur Jahan, as well as Mughal courtiers and officials also sought out curious objects from around the world. This essay examines the accounts of early East India Company factors and ambassadors, especially those by William Hawkins and Sir Thomas Roe, to show how in English records Mughal collecting became associated with eastern greed at a time when the Company itself was profiting from the marketplace of the strange. Drawing on travel accounts, letters, as well as Company court minutes on the one hand, and Mughal sources such as Humayun Nama, Akbar Nama, and Tuzk‐i‐Jahangiri, this essay will explore the rich culture of Mughal collecting. It will show how the Company made note of the Mughal emperor's collections, tried to supply him new curiosities, and, at the same time, saw the Mughal desire for curiosities as an impediment to English trading activities in India.