The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

A House Burgled at Night

c. 1700

Mughal India

Gum tempera and gold on paper
Page: 38.7 x 28.7 cm (15 1/4 x 11 5/16 in.)
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.333
Location: Not on view

Description

In this night scene a band of robbers have climbed over the walls of a Mughal house and, from a courtyard, are successfully carrying out the possessions of its owners while a lady flees through the door. The speed of her movement is expressed in the swinging motion of her diaphanous skirt and the scarf clutched in her hand, as well as by the shoes abandoned on the ground in her haste. This depiction of unruly behavior and its effects are perhaps an expression of the violent succession of emperors that threw the Mughal court into distress at the beginning of the 18th century.
  • Indian Gallery 242b Rotation – November 2016. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 7, 2016-April 10, 2017).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (7/31/2016-10/23/2016); Art and Stories from Mughal India, cat. 71, p. 248.
  • {{cite web|title=A House Burgled at Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1700|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.333