India, May 3 -- Five hundred years is a long period over which to assess an art practice, especially when one is reviewing it not just by composition and symbology, but also through its social and cultural contexts. When it comes to Mughal art, two things stand out. First, the unabashed exchange that occurred between Iranian, European and local art styles, visible in the gilded pages of folios brought out by the royal library (kitabkhana), the relief work etched into forts and tombs across northern parts of the subcontinent, and the miniature paintings that this era is most famous for. Second, Mughal art practice created a wholly Indian canon that has retained an unshakeable hold over our imaginations, even five centuries later. Although th...