An amorous couple, probably Raja Mahendra Pal of Basohli with a favorite queen (c. 1810): Art, History and Details

An amorous couple, probably Raja Mahendra Pal of Basohli with a favorite queen (c. 1810) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

On a terrace outside a royal chamber, a couple dressed in noble garments are making love. The man has loosened his jama in passion while his consort’s gold blouse has been thrown on the red carpet. Thin clouds appear to gather above the golden rays of the evening sun in the clear sky.

Object facts

• Title: An amorous couple, probably Raja Mahendra Pal of Basohli with a favorite queen
• Date: c. 1810
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 18.5 x 12.1 cm (7 5/16 x 4 3/4 in.); Page: 21.6 x 15 cm (8 1/2 x 5 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.84

A detail from the museum

Bottles of wine, fruits, and a box of betel leaves are in the foreground.

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.