Chugtai was born into a family of artists in Lahore and learnt to draw from his father Mia Karim Baksh. He obtained a diploma in photo lithography from the Mayo School of Art, Lahore, in 1914, before learning printmaking methods and etching in London. During his training at the Mayo School of Art he was taught by Samarendranath Gupta, who was a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore.

There is a clear influence of the Bengal school apparent in Chugtai’s early works, but what distinguished Chugtai was his exceptional skill as a draftsman, and the lyricism and painterly quality exhibited in each of his works. Today he is regarded as one of the most acclaimed Pakistani artists of the twentieth century, who is known to have portrayed famous personalities from Islamic history and depicted scenes from various religious and Mughal texts as we witness in this watercolour painting of the princess Jahanara. 

 This arresting painting depicts Jahanara the Mughal princess, Emperor Shah Jahan's daughter, moments after his passing. She is gazing toward the vast distance, capturing a certain philosophical calm. The architecture is drawn with meticulous care. The detailed accuracy and ornamentation accentuates the form of Jahanara, the dark warm brown contrasting with the cool and glistening marble columns and seat. The composition entirely balanced, with the architecture giving an added lightness and purity, to the clearly outlined profile , emphasising the darkness of the dress and the sky. Chugtai depicts the immense loss and emptiness Jahanara must have felt with her fathers passing.

 Chugtais early watercolours take off from the revivalism of the Bengal School of Art, and this painting clearly shows the influence of Abanindranath’s ‘The Last Moments of Shah Jahan’.