Bilal Shahid_Shah Jahan’s Baluster

7/29/2019 Bilal Shahid_Shah Jahans Baluster

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Shah Jahans Baluster: Its

evolution and form

Bilal Shahid2013-10-0148


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Column

Base, Shaft and Capital

Source: Lecture slides on Mughal Architecture

by Nadhra Shahbaz


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Baluster: its meaning

derived through the French word balustre,

from the Italian balaustro meaning

pomegranate flower from its resemblance

to the swelling form of the half-open flowerSource: Oxford English Dictionary

Image taken from:


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Origin

The baluster owes its origin to the restorationof art in Italy

The most ancient were of the shape of a

stunted column, and were not crowned with adisproportionate ionic capital

Sometimes related to being Tuscan in

character

Source: Shaw's Civil architecture: being a complete theoretical and practicalsystem ...By Edward Shaw


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Grecian Orders

The Doric, Ionic and

Corinthian were the

only orders employed

by the Greeks The Tuscan and

Composite were used

only in Italy


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What makes up a baluster?

The baluster column consists of four parts:

Base

Pot-like element

Shaft

Capital

The different members of the column are made distinctby protruding rings and a concave contraction near

the base gives it the form of a bulb According to Ebba Koch, the bulb is always at the base.


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The bulb grows out of a foliage wreath of

acanthus leaves

Under the neck of the column is often carved

another set of floral acanthus motif

The kalasa (pot filled with water and plants

symbolizing prosperity) is also sometimes fluted

or moulded in similar fashion as the shaft The base seems to be an inverted capital of

acanthus leaves


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Variations appear in terms of proportions,

stylizations, positions ofkalasa and other

alterations in the foliate design


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Various Forms of Baluster Columns


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Since the Mughal Baluster columns derive from

illustrations in which they flank both royal and

religious subjects, they were intended in Shah

Jahans architecture as a reference to his semi-

divine nature

Source: Architecture of Mughal India, Part 1, Volume 4 by Catherine Asher


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Chehil Sutun: Todays Diwan-i-Aam

and Macchi Bhawan

Inside the Audience Hall, silver balustrades were set upallowing the nobility to stand according to rank

In Macchi Bhawan, apart from the four bulbousbaluster columns, there are carvings decorated withrelief representations of baluster

Source: Architecture of Mughal India, Part 1, Volume 4 by C. Asher


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Quwwat-ul Islam Mosque, Delhi Sultan Ghari/Cave of the Sultan

Jahangiri Mahal, Agra Fort Akbars Tomb, Sikandara


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Jahangiri Mahal, Lahore Fort Sheesh Mahal, Lahore Fort


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One of the two pavilions called Sawan &

Bhadon

Sarw-andmsutn: Cypress bodiedcolumn with a tapering shaft forming a

bulb at its foot


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Marble Throne,

Diwan-i Aam, Delhi


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Diwan-i-Aam, Delhi Fort


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Hazuri Bagh Baradari


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Fountain, Lahore

Fort


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Image taken from:

Baluster: Its use in modern buildings

Baluster has been used widely as an element of

architecture, not only as a column or part of it,

but also as a balustrade around balconies and

was adopted widely across North and CentralIndia around 18th and 19th centuries


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Diwan-i-Khas, Lahore Fort


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Bibliography

Oxford English Dictionary

JSTOR article on The Baluster Column: A European Motif in Mughal Architectureand Its Meaning by Ebba Koch inJournal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,Vol. 45, (1982), pp. 251-262.

Source: Shaw's Civil architecture: being a complete theoretical and practicalsystem ...By Edward Shaw

Architecture of Mughal India, Part 1, Volume 4 by Catherine Asher

Lecture slides on Mughal Architecture by Nadhra Shahbaz

Documents

Bilal Shahid_Shah Jahan’s Baluster