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A prince celebrating Holi with palace women on a terrace at night (recto)

Unknown

1760

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Romanticism 18th Century Genre Scene Farrukhabad Mughal

Dominant colour

A prince celebrating Holi with palace women on a terrace at night (recto) is a 1760 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, depicting Farrukhabad, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1760 · Mughal Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Bright colors swirl across a nighttime terrace. A prince and palace women laugh, tossing powder and spraying liquid under a full moon. Dishes of red, yellow, and blue sit ready for Holi. This painting shows the festival at its liveliest—no stiff poses, just joy. The artist even hid tiny candle flames in the dark to make the scene glow. It’s one of many playful Mughal works from the 1700s, when rulers commissioned art to celebrate pleasure, not just power. To see more of these lively scenes, look up 18th century Indian art.

The story of this work

Overview

Images of pleasure and play abound in Mughal paintings of the latter half of the 1700s. Under a full moon reflected off a river and by the light of candles, a prince celebrates the spring festival of Holi with a group of palace women. Holi festivities include the boisterous tradition of smearing one another with colored powders—shown heaped on dishes—or shooting colored liquid using plunger guns.