Relief panel

During the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (1602–28), highly decorated interior walls were typical. Chini kana (china room) panels are wall decorations carved in shallow relief. Motifs include small bottles and vases within niches. In Imperial Mughal and provincial palaces, valued Chinese porcelains, metalwork and glass flasks, bottles and vases were displayed in niches in the walls. Bottles and vases may originally have connoted abundance and good fortune through their association with the ‘waters of fertility’. By the 17th century, however, they had become largely decorative. The motifs of elegant, pointed cypress trees, long-necked bottles with bulbous bases and flowering potted plants are found across a variety of Mughal arts, including architecture and textiles.  

Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2011

From: Asian gallery extended display label