This concerns how paintings were made in the early Mughal royal ateli…

This concerns how paintings were made in the early Mughal royal atelier. Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).

Assertion (A): The artworks produced during the early Mughal phase were collaborative efforts of a team of artists.

Reason (R): Records tell us that the artists were given incentives and increments in their salary according to the work done.

In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 2

The correct answer is Option (2) → Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is NOT the correct explanation of (A).

Assertion (A): The artworks produced during the early Mughal phase were collaborative efforts of a team of artists. — True. In the early phase, several artists worked together on one painting.

Reason (R): Records tell us that the artists were given incentives and increments in their salary according to the work done. — True. Pay rose with the amount of work an artist had done.

Why R does not explain A? R tells how the artists were paid. It does not tell why one painting was shared among a team. The correct reason for A: each artist took up the part of the painting that suited his specialisation, or the part given to him.

NCERT (2026-27): “Colours and Technique of Mughal Painting …In workshops, painting was a combined effort of a group of artists, among whom basic draft drawing, grinding and filling in of colours, and adding details were, usually, distributed. However, they may also have been produced single handedly. Thus, the artworks produced during the early Mughal phase were collaborative efforts of the team of artists. And based on one’s specialisation, each artist would undertake an aspect of the painting that he was comfortable with or delegated. Records tell us that the artists were given incentives and increments in their salary according to the work done. The recorded names of the master artists also informs of the position that they enjoyed in the royal atelier.”