King of the World
Until May 3, The Queen’s Gallery, Holyroodhouse

Symphonic Body Grounds
Until November 29, Street Level Photoworks

17th Century Mughal Emperor Shah-Jahan (King of the World) is famous for building the Taj Mahal. He is less famous for producing the outstanding manuscript, the Padshahnama, which illustrates the story of his 30-year reign over the Indian subcontinent. Painted with tiny water-colour brushes by 14 artists, who were visited every morning by the Shah, this sumptuous album marks the cultural zenith of the Mughal Empire.

The complete set of 44 illustrations, gifted to King George III in 1799, has come to Scotland for the very first time, and this is a show which should not be missed. On entering, you are handed a magnifying glass which you don’t have to use, but which can reveal tiny figures in the receding hills and extraordinary intricacy in the decoration.

You could spend hours at just one of the paintings, taking in the detail of the elegant faces, the exotic animals, the dramatic events, the humorous events-within-events, the graceful architecture and the ubiquitous decorative embellishments. Many of the ceremonial occasions are depicted using Mughal conventions of symmetry and hierarchy, so for example the Shah’s portrait is always in profile. The lower-ranking courtiers are not bound by these rules, however, so some of the most appealing work is in the less regal portions of the compositions – where a standard-bearer is startled by a laughing elephant, for example, and where the artists sometimes insert their own self-portraits.

Most of the illustrations are filled with pomp and circumstance, rainbow colours and gold. Some of the most striking, however, are the Bosch-like images of war, such as the Siege of Qandahar by the artist Payag. In the upper-left quadrant a Blake-like plume of black smoke throws blackened figures from the ramparts of a brown fortress, contrasting with the serried ranks of colourful Mughal forces at the bottom right. Giving the composition a whole new twist, there are two fluffy bunnies sitting at the bottom left, enjoying their own reflections in the marshland, oblivious to the scene of death and pageantry behind them.

To adequately describe this show would mean a separate dissertation on each of the 44 images, such is the breadth and depth of the Padshahnama. This leads to my only criticism: the wall texts fall far short of explaining everything you want to know. There are all sorts of odd things happening in the pictures, but the texts explain only the key historical facts. There is no indication either of the techniques and materials used by the painters. But apart from that, it’s perfect.

From under-interpretation to over-interpretation, Adinda van’t Klooster’s solo show at Street Level starts with four detailed wall panels outlining the artist’s intentions. They whet the appetite for a feast, but what transpires is more like a snack. Symphonic Body Grounds explores the use of human embryos in medical research, marvelling at the miracle of fertility and creation.

Symphonic Birth Grounds, an interactive sculpture including enlarged jelly-bean like embryos in the first 28 days of development, looks fantastic but fails to live up to its promise. States of Receptiveness is van’t Klooster’s most successful piece, an animated video of the flower-like polyps which grow and recede every month in the lining of the womb. The pink filia grow and wither in the darkness like some cosmic wasteland, lyrical and unreal. Two months ago I said of the same space, filled with Julie Read’s projections, that I felt safe inside the womb: here I am again.

Catrìona Black, Sunday Herald 16.11.03