Shah Jahan and His Son Dara Shikoh Enthroned, Antique Steel Engraving, 1859
€ 190
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1859
Mapmaker / artist
Published by Gebroeders Kraay
Publisher
Gebroeders Kraay, Amsterdam
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
24 × 15.5 cm (9.4 × 6.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-00114-17
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Complete sheet, edges straight and without nicks. Even age toning, lightly soiled along the left and top edges. No foxing noted in the margins.
About this sheet
An original antique steel engraving, uncolored, in upright format, lettered "SCHAH DSCHIHAN EN ZIJN ZOON DARA-SCHIKOH." The emperor sits cross-legged on a raised throne beneath a canopy carried on four columns, his head in profile against a pale halo. He wears a plumed turban, strings of pearls and an embroidered robe, and holds a small jeweled ornament in his raised right hand, with a sword laid on the cushion beside him. Before him at the lower left a bearded prince kneels on a low carved seat. A standing courtier waits at the far left, another at the right raises a fly whisk, and a young boy holding a round shield stands at the lower right. A patterned wall and carpet fill the background and floor.
The plate is lettered below the image in Dutch: "SCHAH DSCHIHAN EN ZIJN ZOON DARA-SCHIKOH.", which translates as "Shah Jahan and his son Dara Shikoh". Beneath the caption, in a small script, is the publisher's imprint "Uitg. Gebrs Kraaÿ, Amsterdam.", short for uitgegeven (published) by the Kraay brothers of Amsterdam. No artist or engraver is named on the plate.
It was issued in 1859 in A. van Otterloo's Britsch-Indië, beschreven naar de nieuwste bronnen, published in Amsterdam by Gebroeders Kraay as the opening volume of their series Vreemde Landen en Volken (Foreign Lands and Peoples). The title page describes the book as illustrated with twenty-four steel engravings and a map, and each view carries its own Dutch caption and the Kraay imprint.
Shah Jahan ruled the Mughal empire from 1628 to 1658, and Dara Shikoh was his eldest son. The formal composition, with its halo and canopy, gives a portrait plate that frames handsomely in a narrow space.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
