Portraits of Sixteen wives of Mughal Emperors are shown; they are set in oval frames and arranged around an image of the Diwani Khas–the private audience hall in the Delhi Red Fort. As actual portraits of only a few of this group are known, this assemblage is in part, a construct. Each is labeled with the name of her husband, which includes Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and many lesser later rulers. In some instances their personal name is stated; Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir is one example. In other instances more general titles are listed. For example, in the case of Mumtaz, Shah Jahan’s favorite wife, she is simply labeled as Taj Mahal.

The met