HONOLULU — The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art will open the Mughal Suite at Shangri La to the public for the first time in the property’s history Oct. 11. This bedroom-and-bathroom suite is Shangri La’s cornerstone — a set of rooms that Doris Duke (1912-1993) commissioned noted architect Frances Blomfield in Delhi to design while on her 1935 honeymoon with James Cromwell. The newly renovated suite reflects the rooms’ earliest completed appearance in 1939 as documented by historical photographs in the architect’s photo album. In addition to featuring architectural drawings, photos and film segments which chronicle the suite’s history as well as the two-month sojourn in India that ignited Duke’s lifelong romance with the art of the region, an exhibit in the Mughal Suite will showcase Duke’s rarely viewed collections of gold, diamond, ruby and emerald Indian jewelry, jewel-encrusted jade vessels, ivory figurines and enameled-gold decorative objects.
“Following many years of building preservation and art conservation, we’re delighted at long last to unveil this glorious ensemble of rooms and to simultaneously showcase Duke’s Indian collections,” said Deborah Pope, executive director of Shangri La. “Duke traveled to India frequently throughout her adult life — it is a region of the larger Muslim world that she loved and that is not shown elsewhere in the house. With the opening of the Mughal Suite, visitors have access to the Indian collections and to this most private wing of the house — originally reserved for her personal use but by the terms of her will, soon to be open to the public.”
“The setting of the Mughal Suite interior — with its luminous marble screens, opulent textiles and alluring furnishings — provides an incomparable setting for the display of Duke’s beloved collection of precious Indian jewelry and decorative arts,” said curator Sharon Littlefield.
From floors to ceilings, the Mughal Suite intimately incorporates Mughal-inspired art and architecture through the use of carved marble, jali (perforated screens) and inlaid semi-precious stonework, which were created by craftsmen at India Marble Works of Agra whom were contracted by Blomfield. It is clear from the interior that as Cromwell noted in a letter to his mother, “(Doris) … had fallen in love with the Taj Mahal and all the beautiful marble tile, with their lovely floral designs with some precious stones.”
Although Duke initially intended her marble bedroom-and-bathroom suite for a house to be constructed in Palm Beach, Florida, the last stop on her honeymoon prompted a change in plans and set the pivotal scene for Shangri La’s creation. Hawaii, with its natural beauty, relaxed lifestyle and privacy, led the honeymooning couple to extend a planned visit of two weeks to a leisurely four months. In Duke’s own words, “Precisely at the time I fell in love with Hawaii and I decided I could never live anywhere else, a Mughal-inspired bedroom and bathroom planned for another house was being completed for me in India so there was nothing to do but have it shipped to Hawaii and build a house around it.” Hence the Mughal Suite captures both the transformative moment in 1935 when Duke fell in love with the art and architecture of Mughal India and the very origins of Shangri La itself, with the suite as its nucleus. It is also the first of many commissions, including work from contemporary designers and artisans in Morocco, Iran, Syria and India, that Duke would place in order to create her Honolulu home.
Early photographs of the suite served as one of the key sources for renovating the rooms for public viewing. The earliest paint schemes were also uncovered through microscopic examination of small samples of paint cut from the walls and the original colors faithfully brought back. Red velvet divans, mother of pearl furniture, pierced metal hanging lamps from Syria, Indian textiles, manuscript paintings, jades and jewelry, and ancient glass from Iran and Syria further recreate the brilliance of the original interiors.
Among the highlights of the Mughal Suite — and of Shangri La as a whole — are the stunning carved and inlaid marble panels of Duke’s bathroom. Encircling the walls are 26 floral studies fashioned from slices of lapis lazuli, jade, carnelian and other semi-precious stones set into marble. They evoke the beautiful historic marble work of Mughal architecture but at the same time reflect the 1930s in their sensuous lines and simplicity of form. At the windows, carved marble screens of individualized floral studies complement the beauty of the space by opening it to natural light and sound outside. The modern and the historical are seamlessly united in this generous space by a 20th-century American patron, a British architect and the craftsmen of the Indian Marble Works in Agra continuing the artistic traditions of the 17th century.
Also original to the Mughal Suite’s design is the dressing room’s vaulted ceiling covered in plasterwork and inset with small mirrors, which was inspired by mirrored ceilings Duke saw in India and Iran.