The Battle of Shahbarghan from the Padshahnama – Restored Mughal Wall Art

This vivid folio from the Padshahnama, the imperial chronicle commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1636, depicts a decisive military victory in Transoxiana. In July 1646, Mughal commanders Asalat Khan and Rustam Khan intercepted the fleeing Astrakhanid ruler Nasr Muhammad at Shahbarghan, defeating him and recovering treasure he had seized. The painting captures the imperial army surging from a fortress gate—horsemen, foot soldiers, and standards unfurling beneath mountains and cypresses—rendered in jewel-toned pigments of blue, green, yellow, and gold on paper. Shah Jahan's artists worked within the elite imperial atelier, producing miniatures that celebrated the first decade of his reign with the precision he demanded in all his arts.

The victory at Shahbarghan was celebrated with eight days of festivities ordered by the emperor, affirming Mughal dominance over Central Asia. This folio belongs to a dispersed chronicle tradition that combined historical narrative with courtly magnificence, the visual counterpart to the Taj Mahal's architectural splendor. The Padshahnama folios were distributed across royal collections after Shah Jahan's reign ended in 1658, when his son Aurangzeb imprisoned him. Today these works survive as testaments to the synthesis of Persian artistic heritage and Mughal imperial ambition during the zenith of the dynasty's cultural power.

This painting is part of Aurah Living's restored Mughal collection — digitally cleaned and color-corrected from archival sources, with the folio's painted inset, decorative hashiya, and original paper margins preserved.

Premium matte paper print, framed in solid wood with a beveled cream mat. Three frame finishes: Black, Red Oak, White. Free U.S. shipping in the continental United States.