The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 21, 2024

A Princess and Demons before a Nobleman: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto)

A Princess and Demons before a Nobleman: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto)

c. 1710
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Page: 43 x 28.9 cm (16 15/16 x 11 3/8 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 2013.337.a
Location: not on view

Description

The source story of this painting remains enigmatic to scholars, but it includes a range of depictions of the “other”––from the foreign to the demonic. A prince kneeling in front of his horse addresses a lady; the moon in front of her face may identify her as Mahliqa (“moonlike” in Arabic), the Chinese princess identified by inscription on the adjacent page. A group of men whose eyes hang vertically stand behind her. Horned figures with grass skirts lie slain behind them, presumably killed by the kneeling prince conspicuously holding a bow. The city in the background, at the top of the painting, is populated solely by women, and its eight surrounding walls are interspersed with slain composite creatures wearing leaf skirts, which may identify them as bands of forest-dwellers, or tribal groups.
  • March 17, 1988
    (Sotheby’s, New York, NY, Indian, Himalayan and South-East Asian Art and Indian Miniatures, 16–17 March 1988, lot 329, sold to Ralph and Catherine Benkaim)
    1988–2013
    Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2013–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Limited, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. 73
    Gruber, Christiane J., ed. The Moon: A Voyage Through Time. Toronto, Ontario: Aga Khan Museum, 2019. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 59, pp. 198–199
  • The Moon: A Voyage Through Time. Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada (organizer) (March 9-August 18, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=A Princess and Demons before a Nobleman: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1710|access-date=21 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.337.a