Taj Mahal Cenotaph c1900 Glass Slide
The heart of this palace-like structure is the Taj Mahal Tomb, which contains two exquisite cenotaphs representing the occupants of the tomb, Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
Shah Jahan was the emperor of the Mughal Empire. He began building the Taj Mahal in 1632 upon the death of his much beloved wife Mumtaz, who died giving birth to his 14th child. It took nearly 20 years and thousands of workers to complete the Taj Mahal and the magnificent tomb – all of it in memory of Mumtaz Mahal.
The slide is displayed in a modern black frame and held securely between a layer of clear silicone back and front. With the frame positioned to take best advantage of natural or artificial light, this magnificent image can be viewed clearly from either side.
glass slide 8cm x 8 cm (Antique)
frame 14cm x 14cm (new)
A photographic lantern slide is a positive print of a photograph on a glass slide. Sometimes the images were hand-coloured to make them even more attractive. Many lantern slides were also matted, using a piece of opaque paper laid on the slide, which both masked out the edges of the image not wanted in the frame, and created the appearance of a mounted photograph. A second piece of glass was laid on top of the glass with the positive print and a strip of paper was glued around the edges of the glass, thereby securely holding the glass plates together, with the matte in place and protecting the photographic print from dust and scratches etc. Photographic lantern slides became popular in the late 19th century as a popular form of entertainment. Educators, missionaries and salespeople began to use Magic Lantern slides to visually entice the audience. In a way, lantern slides were a very early precursor to the Power Point presentations that we’re now all so familiar with now.