Jasmine Tower, Agra Fort, Agra

The Jasmine Tower (Mussaman Burj) is part of the fort at Agra in northern India. The fort was begun under the Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605), and expanded and made more sumptuous during the reigns of his son Jahangir (1605–1627) and grandson Shah Jahan (1627–1658).

After a war of succession among the four sons of Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707) usurped the throne and imprisoned his father in this ornate structure. From the octagonal tower's balcony can be seen a beautiful view of the Taj Mahal across a sharp curve of the Jumna River. The Jasmine Tower is situated next to the Khass Mahal, an image of which is displayed to the right. Mimicking an earlier photograph taken by Samuel Bourne in the 1860s, the photographer placed an associate on the balcony for this picture.

Images of the same monuments or scenery taken from similar angles by different photographers were quite common. And once cameras became more accessible to the public, amateurs wanted to re-create the work of famous photographers.