A couple seated against two pillows engaged in sex, from an erotic series (c. 1700–1710): Art, History and Details

A couple seated against two pillows engaged in sex, from an erotic series (c. 1700–1710) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Erotic paintings were commissioned by the patrons of painting, at times for educational purposes, mostly for pleasure. The artists would seek inspiration for the peculiar sexual positions from ancient texts such as Kamasutra and Kokashastra. In the painting, a woman rests on the lap of her paramour while their position is supported by two large bolsters put against the wall.

Object facts

• Title: A couple seated against two pillows engaged in sex, from an erotic series
• Date: c. 1700–1710
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 21.2 x 18.1 cm (8 3/8 x 7 1/8 in.); Image: 18.1 x 16.4 cm (7 1/8 x 6 7/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.110

A detail from the museum

Yellow pigment has been used for jewelry instead of gold.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Griswold, William, Cameron Kitchin, Chase F. Robinson, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian Institution). Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories, edited by Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.