The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence at the V&A

Opening in November 2024, The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence will present the monumental artistic achievements of the ‘Golden Age’ of the Mughal court (c. 1560-1660). The exhibition will celebrate the extraordinary creative output and internationalist culture of Mughal Hindustan during the age of its greatest emperors.

Across three sections, displayed chronologically, the exhibition will span the reigns of Emperors Akbar (r. 1556-1605), Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), with a particular focus on craftmanship, arts and creative outputs of the courts.

The exhibition will have over 200 items on display, including little-seen objects from the V&A, as well as loans from museums across the world. On display will be four rare folios from the colourfully illustrated volumes of the Hamza Nama, or ‘Book of Hamza’, commissioned by Akbar in 1570, on loan from the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, and the ‘Ames Carpet’ (c. 1590-1600), a woven carpet from the imperial workshops, on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and on display in the U.K. for the first time.

Susan Stronge: “This is the first exhibition to reveal the internationalist art and culture of the Mughal court. Hindustani artists, Iranian masters and a few Europeans came together in the imperial workshops to create a new, hybrid art. We are pleased to display some of their greatest creations, many of which have never been exhibited before.”