Raqib Shaw’s intricate and labor-intensive paintings and drawings combine images of fantasy, sexuality, violence, and beauty. Incorporating gems, rhinestones, glitter, and metallic enamel paints, Shaw creates not only provocative visual experiences but also an ironic commentary on material opulence. His influences are wide ranging, incorporating Hindu mythology, Renaissance iconography, Persian and Asian craft, Baroque design, Japanese wedding kimonos and screens, Hokusai prints, Kashmiri shawls, medieval heraldry, and Persian miniatures. Garden of Earthly Delights X (2004), hailed as Shaw’s masterpiece to date, features a sparkling and orgiastic underwater scene where animal-headed humans—a common motif in his work—cavort with fanciful creatures and giant predatory genitalia. In addition to some imagery from the Hindu mythology of his birthplace, Shaw has drawn inspiration from Renaissance iconography.