Our Mumtaz cover is named after the favourite wife of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who commissioned the Taj Mahal to house her tomb. This design reproduces a photograph of one of the Taj Mahal’s iconic marble flowers, originally inlaid with stones or semiprecious jewels using a technique called “pietra dura.”

In the ivory-white marbled walls of India’s emblematic monument lie these beautifully carved floral designs.

Photographed by Gérard Degeorge, these unique marble carvings capture the breathtaking construction and exquisiteness of one of the world’s greatest structures, the Taj Mahal.

Intriguing in its unique nature, the Taj Mahal is adorned both inside and out with these marbled flowers. Special in their specific colours and form, the decorations are incrustations of precious or semiprecious stones according to the technique known as “pietra dura,” a Florentine practice consisting of inlaid stones in a stone background.

In Islamic culture, flowers are often seen as symbols of Paradise; the Kingdom of God.

To carve into marble is to commit to perfection. Any mistake meant the whole stone slab had to be discarded. In reproducing one of Gérard Degeorge’s photographs of the famous monument, this cover celebrates these precious marble masterpieces. This Mumtaz design takes its name from the favourite wife of Shah Jahan, for whom the Taj Mahal was built.