Jahangir Entertains Shah Abbas — Folio from the St. Petersburg Album

Emperor Jahangir receives Shah Abbas of Persia in lavish, imagined ceremony — a diplomatic encounter that never historically took place, staged in paint as if it had. The Mughal sovereign overwhelms his Safavid counterpart with the wealth and refinement of his court.

The painting is attributed to Bishandas, one of Jahangir's most trusted court artists — sent by the emperor himself to Persia in 1613 to take Shah Abbas's likeness from life. That direct knowledge gives this work an unusual authority: the Persian sovereign's features were not invented, even if the meeting was. The album borders were later refined by the Persian master Muhammad Sadiq.

The folio belongs to the St. Petersburg Album — the celebrated compilation assembled from Mughal paintings carried out of Delhi after Nadir Shah's sack of 1739, then rebound at the Persian court. It remains one of the defining works of Jahangir's "imaginary diplomacy" series — visions of imperial harmony painted with the conviction of historical record.

Restored from the museum archives by aurahliving.com.