“Ornamental Jālīs of the Mughals and Their Precursors”
Dr. Masooma Abbas

Abstract
Even before the Mughal period, Hindu artisans were renowned for making stone jālīs with simplified geometrical designs, a tradition that continued in the modern times in the state of Gujarat. With the advent of the Mughals the technical expertise of the Hindu jālī, makers were put to work carving new Timurid and Safavid designs. The height of the Mughal jālī art came under Shah Jahan when a new vocabulary of Mughal decorative designs, as used for other stone carvings; painting, etc., was applied to perforated marble screens. It is not hitherto been realized that unlike the earlier Hindu jālīs the Mughal jālīs follow the decorative vocabulary of the court.

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