A princess reclining on a terrace with attendants (c. 1730–1740): Art, History and Details

A princess reclining on a terrace with attendants (c. 1730–1740) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This scene presents an idealized view of the life of a Mughal princess. Bejeweled and dressed in costly garments, she reclines on a couch set up on a white marble terrace. She watches two musicians sing and clap time, and a companion pours for her a cup of liquor. Two attendants stand behind, one waving a whisk to keep away the insects and another holding a box of paan, a betel-leaf preparation for freshening the breath. At the far right an older woman of the harem holds a fan while enjoying a hookah.

Object facts

• Title: A princess reclining on a terrace with attendants
• Date: c. 1730–1740
• Culture: India, Mughal, 18th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 20.6 x 30.6 cm (8 1/8 x 12 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Mughal
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2013.338

A detail from the museum

White is the color worn by widows.

Collection credit

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

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.