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Harem night-bathing scene, from the Late Shah Jahan Album (recto)

Unknown

1653

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Baroque Mughal Painting Baroque Genre Scene Court of Shah Jahan

Dominant colour

Harem night-bathing scene, from the Late Shah Jahan Album (recto) is a 1653 unspecified by Unknown, a Baroque work, depicting Court of Shah Jahan, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1653 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see women in loose, pale robes bathing on a moonlit marble terrace, watched by a servant holding a cloth. This painting comes from an album made for Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal. His artists often showed quiet, elegant moments like this—less about grand stories, more about beauty in everyday court life. The soft glow of the marble makes the scene feel calm, almost dreamlike. If you like this, look up *mughal india, court of shah jahan (reigned 1628–58)*.

The story of this work

Overview

The subject of women bathing persisted throughout the 1500s and into the 1600s. Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan—the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal—continued to support the work of artists in the imperial atelier. His taste was more formal and subdued, without as much interest in illuminations of fantastic tales. This scene is a single painting mounted in an album. The white marble terraces glow under the moonlight. An attendant carrying a cloth over one arm looks on with awe at the beauty of the scene. He is probably a eunuch, since men were not permitted to serve in the women’s quarters…

Did you know?

The fully dressed women in the top and bottom border examine strings of pearls and other jewelry pieces while the attendants on the side bring perfumes and containers probably with other jewels for inspection.

Read the full account in the museum source.