Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays
A Mughal gold coin shown as two faces side by side. The left face has a bull surrounded by a ring of radiating sun rays (the Met tags it Bulls and Zodiac); the right face is a field of Persian calligraphy with the year 1028 in numerals. The tell is the sun-ray halo: a celestial sign and the sun's rays are placed on the emperor's gold, attaching cosmic prestige to the issuer.
- Date
- 1619
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Mughal Empire, Emperor Jahangir (mint of Agra)
- Region
- South Asia
- Country
- Mughal Empire
- Medium
- Banknotes and coins
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Mughal Empire
- Leader
- Jahangir
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Religion, Empire and colonialism
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Open Access), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (The Met Open Access, CC0; isPublicDomain true in the Met API; object about 400 years old)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, 1898 (99.35.7402), Open Access
Text on the object
Left face: [illegible marginal inscription around the bull and rays] Right face: [illegible, calligraphic legend in several lines, with the date numerals ١٠٢٨ (1028) in the central field]
Only the date, 1028 (AH), is read. The Persian legends are not read.
The Persian legends are in elaborate nasta'liq calligraphy on a small, slightly damaged flan and are left [illegible] rather than guessed; only the numerals are read. Machine-read by Claude, not checked by a reader of Persian.
