fter a visit to the Taj Mahal in 1935, Doris Duke commissioned a marble bedroom suite inspired by the techniques and designs of the famous tomb and other sites of architecture built during the reign of the Mughal dynasty (1526-1857). The Mughal Suite is composed of doorframes, window and door screens, and inlaid panels evocative of the beautiful floral patterns characteristic of the arts and architecture of the Mughal period. The suite was designed by a British architectural firm practicing in Delhi, with the actual work undertaken by an unknown firm of artisans in Agra.
Duke was stirred by Mughal architecture, but not enslaved to it. She explained: ... in my Indian bedroom, carved, cutout marble jalis or screens, which were formerly used by Indian princes to keep their wives from other eyes, have a new purpose: they are not only decorative, but a means of security, for they can be locked without shutting off the air, and when not wanted can be pushed back into the wall.
The six door screens in the Mughal Suite allow the bedroom to be experienced in two different ways. As pocket doors, the screens can be completely retracted into the walls thus opening the room up to the outdoors and the exhilarating natural environment beyond. The effect is similar to that of pavilion architecture characteristic of certain regions of the Islamic world. When the screens are protracted, the room becomes interiorized with diffused sunlight and breezes. The eye focuses in on the art collection which adorns the walls, floors, vitrines and furniture.
In her lifetime, Duke’s bedroom was dense with collections. In keeping with the origin of the marble suite, many portable objects on display were also made in South Asia. Travel mementos, jades, enamelled-gold objects, sculptures, gorgeous carpets, and ornate furniture evoke the subcontinent’s embrace of diverse artistic traditions associated with Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, and Buddhism, as well as artistic traditions unrelated to religious matters. As a collector, Duke was neither rigid nor a purist and her bedroom was a celebration of her particular style.
History of the Taj Mahal from ArchNet
The Mughal dynasty and its arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Mughal Garden at Shangri La
Mughal Flowers in the Shangri La collection
South Asian and Himalayan art at The Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution