Artwork Page for European Costume Scene

Details / Information for European Costume Scene

European Costume Scene

c. 1590–1595

India, Mughal Dynasty

(1526-1756)
Medium
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Measurements
Image: 21.5 x 13.4 cm (8 7/16 x 5 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1971.89
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

This painting of European subjects by an unnamed Indian artist depicts an unidentified scene in which two merchants approach a pavilion where a seated lady receives a kneeling holy man unrolling a scroll before her. The figures wear garments associated with different periods, which increases the painting’s ambiguity. The distant cityscape in the upper left corner is a Mughal version of the type introduced into India by Jesuit missionaries who brought gifts of European paintings and engravings.
A vertical gum tempera painting depicts five people in a courtly scene framed by ornate borders. An elder kneels, offering a scroll to a woman reclining in red and gold robes. Both have light skin tones, as do two men standing to our left. On our right, another person with medium-light skin gazes upward while holding a book. A deep blue structure and dense forest yield to a distant white-domed city under a golden sky.

European Costume Scene

c. 1590–1595

India, Mughal Dynasty (1526-1756)

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