The emperor\u27s eye and the painter\u27s brush: The rise of the Mughal court artist, c. 1546–1627

Even though the biographies and stylistic hands of individual Mughal court painters have been a central focus of scholarship over the last several decades, the idea of the emperor as the source and impetus for creative production has remained largely unquestioned. This dissertation challenges this notion by showing that paintings produced in the Mughal imperial atelier between circa 1546 and 1627, a period defined by the artistic materials themselves rather than by regnal dates, constitute the very means by which artists sought to improve their station and advance their profession at court. The royal patron is not removed entirely from the picture, but painters instead are brought to the fore and their status as imperial servants—whose standings in the imperial administration were seldom secure and often in flux—is integrally woven into the analysis of their artistic practices and works. By viewing a complex array of materials, including portraits, depictions of royal dreams, and the inscriptions that cover and are paired with these works, through this lens, a new conception of Mughal court painting comes into focus. Rather than a locus of the emperors’ desires and psychologies, as this corpus of works has traditionally been viewed, it becomes clear that Mughal imperial painting is the very vehicle through which court painters demonstrated their artistic aptitude, performed and entertained, recorded (or, more accurately, imagined) imperial optical and visionary experiences, and, most importantly, expressed their loyalty and devotion to their royal patrons. In this way, Mughal imperial painting can be said to speak as much (or more so) to the aspirations and ambitions of court artists than to those of the emperors