The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 21, 2023

A princess on a terrace with attendants at night (recto); Calligraphy (verso)

c. 1760

Part of a set. See all set records

India, Farrukhabad, Mughal, 18th century

Opaque watercolor with gold on paper (recto); ink on paper, six lines of Persian poetry (verso)

Miniature: 25.4 x 19.7 cm (10 x 7 3/4 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 2013.341

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Rolled-up textiles could be let down to enclose the space of an open pavilion.

Description

Before a terrace pavilion in the women’s quarters of a palace, a royal woman stretches to show off her figure in accordance with age-old Indian poetic imagery. Female musicians provide entertainment, and attendants hold bottles of wine at the ready. Scenes of enjoyment in sumptuous domestic spaces pervaded the artistic repertoire of the imperial court and regional centers of northern India throughout the late 1700s, following the themes set by the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah.

Inscriptions

Inscription

verso: six lines of Persian poetry in nast 'aliq calligraphy

Inscription Translation

Your separation has become my companion of old,/ My chagrin for you a soother of sorrows of old,/ My aching for you, my daily guest,/ Your branding mark my memento of old,/ O gentle breeze, beware of reminding the beloved/ Of me, humble-hearted and in the dust, of old.

Provenance
1950s-September 1966
Olsen Collection, Bridgeport, CT, sold to Ralph Benkaim
September 1966-2013
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
Citations
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. Reproduced: cat. no. 82, p. 178
Exhibition history

Beauty in Asia. Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore (May 3-September 23, 2007).

Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.341