Description: | Photograph of Itimad-ud-daulah's Tomb at Agra in Uttar Pradesh, taken by Edmund William Smith in 1893-4, from the Archaeological Survey of India. This view shows a detail of the inlaid mosaic ornamentation above the dado lining the sides of the entrance. The mausoleum was built c.1625 by Noor Jehan, the favorite wife of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir (r.1605-27) in memory of her father Ghayas-ud-din (Itimad-ud-Daulah), and contains both his and his wife's grave. The Mausoleum, a white marble rectangular building, stands in a garden on a stone platform situated on the banks of the river Jumna. The delicately carved marble screens let in light and air, and these, together with the inlaid pietra dura work on the walls and floors, make this a most beautiful building.
Smith wrote in Moghul Colour Decoration of Agra, 1901, "On the sides of the entrances [to the tomb] are dadoes...and the panelling between them and the springing of the arches over the doorways (Plate LXXIV) [this image], are beautified with goblets, water and flower vases, &c., &c., all in inlaid marble." |