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Leaf from the Late Shah Jahan Album: Harem Night-Bathing Scene (recto); Calligraphy Framed by an Ornamental Border of Flowers and Birds (verso)

Unknown

1650

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Baroque Mughal Painting Baroque Genre Scene Court of Shah Jahan

Dominant colour

Leaf from the Late Shah Jahan Album: Harem Night-Bathing Scene (recto); Calligraphy Framed by an Ornamental Border of Flowers and Birds (verso) is a 1650 unspecified by Unknown, a Baroque work, depicting Court of Shah Jahan, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1650 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see women bathing on a white marble terrace at night, lit by moonlight, while an attendant watches. This painting comes from an album made for Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal. The scene feels quiet and real—no grand myths, just a private moment. The artist paid close attention to the way light glows on wet skin and stone. To see more art 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…