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A princess on a terrace with attendants at night (recto); Calligraphy (verso)

Unknown

1760

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Romanticism 18th Century Portrait Farrukhabad Mughal

Dominant colour

A princess on a terrace with attendants at night (recto); Calligraphy (verso) 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

A woman in a long gown stands on a palace terrace at night. Servants hold lanterns, wine, and musical instruments around her. The scene glows under soft light against dark trees. This painting comes from 18th-century India, when artists often showed royal women enjoying private moments. The way the woman stretches her arms follows old Indian poetry that praised beauty and grace. The details—like the tiny patterns on her clothes—show how carefully these scenes were made. To see more art like this, look up Mughal.

The story of this work

Overview

Before a terrace pavilion in the women’s quarters of a palace, a royal woman stretches to show off her figure in accordance with age-old Indian poetic imagery. Female musicians provide entertainment, and attendants hold bottles of wine at the ready. Scenes of enjoyment in sumptuous domestic spaces pervaded the artistic repertoire of the imperial court and regional centers of northern India throughout the late 1700s, following the themes set by the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah.