Where spice came from

Most people can identify the Taj Mahal. But only a few specialists would recognise the Padshahnama, its equivalent in paint. Shah Jahan, the 17th-century Mughal emperor who commissioned them both, loved miniatures as well as buildings. Yet visitors have been streaming to the Taj for centuries, while the Padshahnama has spent the last 200 years in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. Now the queen's curators have unbound the book's 44 illustrations (see picture above) for the first time and sent them on a world tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan. Fresh from New Delhi, the manuscript will be on display at the Queen's Gallery in London until the end of April, when it goes to five American cities.