The lovelorn heroine, from a Sat Sai of Bihari (1780–90): Art, History and Details

The lovelorn heroine, from a Sat Sai of Bihari (1780–90) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The Sat Sai is a poetry collection describing the beauty of women in a range of emotional states. The heroine of this poem sits against a tree that is in full flower. Not coincidentally, her dress matches the color of the blossoms, but no bees come to pollinate. Her lover is absent, and other girls walk by, gossiping. The oval format was inspired by British art. The scene is from a poem written for a king in northwestern India by an author from eastern India, who was raised in a north Indian city. This painting reveals the movement of art and poets across multiple regions.

Object facts

• Title: The lovelorn heroine, from a Sat Sai of Bihari
• Date: 1780–90
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 19.3 x 14.2 cm (7 5/8 x 5 9/16 in.); Overall: 26.5 x 21.1 cm (10 7/16 x 8 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1971.86

A detail from the museum

The Sat Sai was written for Raja Jai Singh I of Amber (r. 1625–67).

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

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.