"Diving Dipper and Other Birds", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album 1510 - 1640

This painting of a diving dipper and other birds was made with opaque watercolor on paper by Mansur, a court artist in the service of the Mughal emperors of India around the early 17th century. The naturalism of the painting is striking, as the artist clearly intends to make a scientific record of avian life. Yet this image can also be understood in terms of courtly patronage and culture, as it comes from the Shah Jahan Album which was a repository for artworks that expressed the wealth and power of the royal family. The emperor maintained a virtual monopoly on artistic resources, with the result that the institutional structure of royal patronage shaped artistic production and consumption. What we see here is a combination of artistic skill, scientific observation, and courtly display. To understand it fully, we need to use all the historical and documentary resources we can find about Mughal India.