Europeans bring gifts to Shah Jahan, Illustration from the 'Padshahnama', f.116b, c.1635 (vellum)

The Padshahnama (Chronicle of the Emperor) is the official visual history of Shah Jahan (1592-1666) the emperor of the Mughal Empire. (plate 19) In this darbar scene, Shah-Jahan holds court in his new Hall of Public Audience (Divan-i'Amm) in Agra, July 1633; outside the railing in the left foreground a group of Europeans wait to be received. They are mostly shown in three-quarter pose - a stance normally reserved for those of low rank. This illustration was placed in the manuscript adjacent to the page, depicting the attack on the Portuguese trading station at Hoogly the previous year; it is therefore possible that these Europeans are some of the Portuguese prisoners brought from Hoogly to Agra. One of them carries a lacquer box which is remarkably similar to one being rescued and carried onto a boat in the earlier illustration. The text states that: 'of the prisoners, four hundred men and women, young and old were brought before the Islam-nourishing padshah's [Shah-Jahan's] view.'