217. Zebras and Zodiacs: Jahangir’s Art Revolution (Ep 3)

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Often overshadowed by his son’s architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal, Emperor Jahangir was a true connoisseur of beauty. His reign witnessed a flourishing of art, architecture, and craftsmanship through his patronage of impressive workshops of artists who created vibrant masterpieces. Jahangir continued expressing his love of the natural world through the paintings he commissioned: from zebras to squirrels to exotic birds. And women were not excluded from his world of art. His powerful wife Nur Jahan oversaw architectural projects like the “Baby Taj”, and female painters at court documented the intimate life of the imperial harem. But beyond documenting the world around him, how did Jahangir use art as propaganda, and what is the meaning behind the mysterious zodiac coins he created? Listen as William and Anita are joined by Susan Stronge, curator of the V&A exhibition, The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, to discuss the visual culture of the court of Jahangir. Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [email protected] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Aaliyah Akude Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community.
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0:41.1	Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you.
0:43.5	Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Hello and welcome to Empire with me Anita Arnhannan.
1:03.3	And me, William Derrimple.
1:05.2	And today we are joined by one of my great heroes and mentors and woman who is the toast of artistic London
1:14.6	at the moment, Sue Strong, the curator of the fabulous show, The Great Mughals, Art, Architecture
1:21.5	and Opulence at the VNA.
1:24.7	And we're very grateful to Sue, not only for coming on today, but for giving us
1:27.9	the peg to hang this entire series on, which is something I've been longing to do ever since
1:33.9	we started Empire. And Sue has given us the excuse for a fully, completely indulgent, in-depth,
1:40.7	mogul extravaganza. So welcome, Sue. Thank you. I think that's the best introduction
1:45.7	I've ever had. Thank you. I'll tell you what, it's been cooking in him for such a long time.
1:50.4	He does talk about you. I mean, when we're not doing the pot, he talks about you often and
1:54.0	warmly. So thank you so much. I know it's a really, really busy time. What rave reviews
1:58.2	for your exhibition? We were a little bit worried at the beginning because
2:02.6	some of the sub-editors' headlines had comments like the DeBorch Mowgals, which seemed to rest on
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