Question:

The given painting is from the sixteenth century from Mughal India. Identify the work shown in this painting from the following options:

Show Hint

Ask which craft would need a furnace, an anvil or a potter wheel, and check whether any of these appear in the picture. Then look at the flat sheets and the bound volume.
Updated On: Sep 15, 2026
  • Minting of coins
  • Metal crafting
  • Pottery making
  • Book making
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Concept:
  • Before print reached India, books were produced by hand in workshops where several people worked together at different tasks.
  • Mughal court workshops, called kitabkhana, employed calligraphers, painters, paper makers and binders, and paintings of these workshops are used in the chapter to show how manuscripts were made.

Step 1: Read what the people in the painting are actually doing.
The figures are seated on the floor with flat sheets in front of them. One is writing, another is colouring a sheet, one is smoothing paper on a board, and a completed bound volume lies at the side.
Every activity shown belongs to the making of a manuscript.

Step 2: Test option (A), minting of coins.
Minting needs a furnace, metal blanks, dies and hammers. None of these appear in the painting, and coin making was never done seated on a cloth with sheets of paper.

Step 3: Test option (B), metal crafting.
Metal work also requires fire, tools and hard surfaces. The painting shows flat sheets and brushes, so this does not fit either.

Step 4: Test option (C), pottery making.
Pottery needs a wheel, wet clay and a kiln. There is no wheel and no clay in the scene.

Step 5: Confirm option (D).
What remains is book making. Writing, illustrating, preparing paper and binding are exactly the stages of manuscript production carried on in a Mughal workshop.

Final Answer: (D) Book making
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