Collection Online as of January 30, 2023

A Night Scene of Shiva Puja (recto)

c. 1760–70

Part of a set. See all set records

attributed to Muhammad Rizavi Hindi

(Indian, active mid-1700s)

India, Lucknow, Mughal, 18th century

Opaque watercolor with gold on paper, wide borders of pink paper (recto)

Page: 28.2 x 24.1 cm (11 1/8 x 9 1/2 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 2013.350.a

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The linga is a stylized phallic symbol denoting the creative capacities of Shiva.

Description

Hindu women had been prominent members of Mughal harems since the time of Akbar, whose chief queen was a Hindu princess from the kingdom of Amber (later renamed Jaipur) in present-day Rajasthan. Under golden stars and a crescent moon, this royal palace woman holds a flower garland to offer at a shrine to the Hindu god Shiva. The light of butter lamps casts a shadow behind her figure; experimentation with the depiction of shadows, typically absent in earlier Mughal painting, increased among artists during the 1700s.

Provenance

before 1811-1849

Sir Charles Forbes, 7th Baronet [1773-1849], Bengal, London, and Scotland, by descent to his great-grandson, Colonel Sir John Forbes

?-1962

Colonel Sir John Stewart Forbes [1901-1984], Baronet, DSO, DL, Allargue House, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK, consigned to Sotheby's London for sale

December 10, 1962

(Sotheby’s, London, Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 10 December 1962, lot 2, sold to Ralph Benkaim)

1962-2013

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. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 88, p. 274

Exhibition history

Art of the Indian Subcontinent from Los Angeles Collections. University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (March 4-31, 1968).

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