John Seyller has written extensively on Indian painting, particularly on paintings and manuscripts produced at the Mughal court in India in the 16th and 17th centuries. Among his publications are Workshop and Patron in Mughal India: The Freer Ramayana and Other Manuscripts Illustrated for ‘Abd al-Rahim (Zurich, 1999), Pearls of the Parrot of India: The Walters Art Museum Khamsa of Amir Khusraw of Delhi (Baltimore, 2001), and The Adventures of Hamza: Painting and storytelling in Mughal India (Washington, 2002). The latter two publications have served as catalogues of major exhibitions. He is currently working on catalogues of two collections of Indian painting and a comprehensive corpus of Indian seals.

He teaches a wide range of courses in Asian art, including a general survey (Art 8), upper-division courses on Japanese Art (Art 185), Chinese Painting (Art 187), and Indian Painting (Art 188), and special topics in Asian Art (Art 192). These rotating courses include Islamic Art, the Hindu Temple, and Southeast Asian Art. Beyond this, he periodically offers seminars on pan-Asian topics such as Asian Calligraphy, the Buddha Legend, Ornament, and Portraiture in Asian Art (Art 285).