#mughals

Have you ever seen a flawless emerald? Natural flawless emeralds are rare in jewelry, but they exude an otherworldly sea green color that is unforgettable. The Mughals were no strangers to the wonder of these gems; this solid emerald cup was produced by Mughal craftspeople under the emperor Jahangir in the early 17th century. The magnificent cup sold at auction in 2003 for over £1.5 million ($2 million).

Solid emerald wine cup, c. 1605-1627, @christiesinc

#AntiqueOfTheDay #Mughal #Emerald

Basawan and Suraj Gujrati. Illustration from Baburnama or Memoirs of Babur, ca. 183-1530.

allah is the Living, the Sustaining.

let no one cover my grave except with greenery,

for this very grass suffices as a tomb cover for the poor.

the daughter of the fifth mughal emperor, shah jahan, jahanara begum was one of the most influential women of her time -- and yet her body rests in an open-sky tomb, unembellished by any physical reflections of her glory in life. named padshah begum at the age of seventeen, she became the cynosure of the mughal harem, carrying the wealth of her mother's inheritance along with income from land revenue. but her material status did little to bind her to the physical world: jahanara was a devout disciple of mullah shah badakshi, a sufi of the qadiriyya sufi order. she shared her sufism with her older brother, dara shikoh, and dedicated herself to the production of sufi literature, most famously her biography of khwaja moinuddin chishti, munis-ul-arwah. the sufi believes in the ultimate union with the Beloved, of shedding one's bodily soul to burn the wings of the moth of their hearts in the flame of the Creator. thus, it is no surprise that upon her death, the padshah begum, a revered shahzadi of the empire, chose to forego the resplendent architecture of royal mughal tombs, and wished to cover herself with nothing but the earth she had come from.