
Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Sold for £5,120 inc. premium
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Senior Sale Coordinator

Head of Department
Provenance
Christie's, Travel, Science and Natural History, 25th April 2012, lot 210.
The Persian inscription reads: hatiya pol darvazeh qala'ah agra, 'The Hatiya Pol [Hathi Pol] Gate of the Fort of Agra'.
The English: Fort of Agra.
The fort originally belonged to the Lodhi dynasty before it was captured by Babur, the first Mughal Emperor (reg. 1526-30). His successor and son Humayun was crowned there in 1530. It was not until Akbar's reign (1556-1605) that Agra became the capital of the Empire, at which time the fort was rebuilt in red sandstone, completed in 1573. During the reign of Shah Jahan, many of the fort's marble palaces were built when the Emperor remodelled the three main courtyards, finally finishing this process in 1637. It was there in the Shah Burj that Shah Jahan was to spend the last eight years of his life held captive by his son Aurangzeb.
The city of Agra was captured from the Marathas by the British in 1803, who greatly admired the Mughal buildings of Agra, Sikandra and Fatehpur Sikri. The Union Flag (or an approximation of it) flying above the gate in our painting presumably reflects this occupation.