S. M. KHAYYAM - Silent Whispers in Turquoise

Project Details

S. M. KHAYYAM – Silent Whispers in Turquoise

Signed and Dated 2026.

Dimensions: 42 x 56 cm.

Natural stone pigments and organic pigments on paper.

Syed Muhammad Khayyam Shah, or Khayyam as he’s known, was born in Quetta in Pakistan’s southwest Baluchistan province. He trained at the prestigious National College of Arts in Lahore, renowned for its dynamic reinvention of traditional Mughal miniature painting in contemporary art practice in the 20^th century. Khayyam is at the forefront of a new generation of Pakistani artists embracing these layered traditions of past and present near and far.

Silent Whispers in Turquoise, commissioned for TEFAF 2026, comprise portraits of Mughal emperors, artists and nobility in haloes of rich lapis lazuli or a blend of malachite and turquoise. Khayyam’s meticulous technique is evident in the vibrant colouring, “in a portrait, I might apply seven layers of different colours, allowing each layer to dry completely before adding the next. Only after all layers are applied does the final colour fully emerge.”

Khayyam uses historic methods and materials of Indo-Persian book arts, preparing all his own pigments from mineral and organic raw materials: from the finest lapis lazuli, malachite and turquoise, to red cinnabar, Indian yellow, saffron, sindoor, cochineal, and indigo. To give greater opacity to the lighter shades, Khayyam mixes the pigments with powdered gofun made from crushed oyster shells. Khayyam fades out the faces of the sitters to capture the idea of memory and trace, using the neem rang technique meaning ‘half colour.’ This refers to a partial or thin wash of colour used to build depth, subtlety, and soft transitions in the painting. Khayyam says, “I use this technique to create fading effects. By applying thin washes layer by layer, the colours gradually fade and blend, giving the painting a soft, delicate, and ethereal quality that is characteristic of Mughal miniatures.”

Each person relates to a historic individual, whose portrait appears in the Padshahnama, or Book of Emperors, the official chronicle of Shah Jahan’s reign. The evocative title, Silent Whispers, captures their human presence but also reminds us of absence, like faces cast on an ocean of time. Their clothing and turbans remain bright, as a material residue that persists beyond their lives, representing a quintessential legacy of this opulent empire in the textile traditions they sponsored. Yet Khayyam removes their jewellery and the emperors’ emblems of royalty to disrupt and level the hierarchy of the Mughal court.

In Silent Whispers in Turquoise, there are no emperors present, instead Khayyam gives the position of honour to the Mughal artist Balchand, whose portrait is in the centre foreground, flanked by prominent Hindu noblemen on the front row, and key Muslim grandees of the imperial court on the second row. In so doing, Khayyam draws particular inspiration from the painting in the Padshahnama of Jahangir welcoming Shah Jahan on his return from the Mewar Campaign in 1615, by Balchand, where the artist includes his own self portrait at the lower left (Royal Collection Trust, Windsor, RCIN1005025.f).

Throughout his work, Khayyam underscores the multiculturalism of the Mughal court, while also seeking to democratize viewership of his work compared to the select few who glimpsed the Padshahnama in Shah Jahan’s own day. The roundel format cleverly echoes the Mughal emperor’s penchant for being represented with haloes, but Khayyam’s addition of gentle three-dimensional volume to each roundel also brings to mind the Mughal’s fascination with European art and their interest in the miniature portraits brought by English travellers such as Sir Thomas Roe to the court of Jahangir. At another level, the repeated rhythm of the roundels across the entire field of vision also somehow captures a more contemporary Warhol-like commodification of the Mughal identities portrayed.

Provenance

Directly from the artist

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Dr Ursula Weekes for writing this article on the present painting.

Categories: Modern & Contemporary Paintings

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S. M. KHAYYAM – Silent Whispers in Turquoise

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