★ A SPECTACULAR MOHUR OF JAHANGIR DRINKING WINE ★

LE MONDE ARABE
India - Mughal Empire
Nur al-Din Muhammad Jahangir, AH 1014-1037 (1605-1627 CE). AV Mohur AH 1020, regnal year 6 (1611 CE), Agra. Bust of Jahangir facing left on the surface of the radiant sun wearing a turban with an egret (Jikkah), a brocaded costume and an ear ornament, holding a book in his left hand and a goblet in his right hand, to left "Shabiya Jahangir Shah Akbar Shah", to right downwards "Sana 6 Julu" / Lion facing left on a setting sun, below "Sana 1020 Hijri". 10,94g. BMC Mughal 315 (same reverse die); KM 179.2 (same reverse die); Fr. 758c (same reverse die); Liddle Jahangir Type G35 (same reverse die).

Good very fine.

Jahangir was a great patron of the arts, who employed court painters to record current events, and he had no objection to the depiction of human beings, particularly of himself. While Jahangir enjoyed wine, he is known to have prayed regularly. The striking of portrait mohurs, which was later described by the pious as “Bachanalian”, was never repeated by any of the later Mughal emperors. While Jahangir’s son and successor Shah Jahan was a patron of the arts who issued beautiful coins, he did not share his father’s brilliance and flair when it came to their design, and his successor, the devoutly religious Awrangzib, put an end to the liberal artistic practices of his father and grandfather.