Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a watercolor painting. It dates from 1749 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 58.1.3
- Credit line
- Rogers Fund, 1953
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Thus the work's iconography centers on the female sitter and the smoking ritual, offering insight into contemporary material culture.
The painting presents an unidentified woman in a domestic interior, holding a hookah and engaged in the act of smoking. As a portrait from 1749, it belongs to the portrait genre and reflects the cultural practice of tobacco use in 18th-century India, where the hookah served as a social and leisure object. The composition emphasizes the subject's presence through the intimate depiction of the smoking apparatus, suggesting a focus on everyday domestic activity rather than allegorical symbolism.
Thus the work's iconography centers on the female sitter and the smoking ritual, offering insight into contemporary material culture.
Technique & Style
The work Untitled is an ink and opaque watercolor painting on paper, produced circa 1749 in India. Its support is a sheet of paper measuring approximately 22.2 cm in height by 15.1 cm in width. The composition belongs to the portrait genre and portrays a woman engaged with a hookah, a subject recorded in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.
Executed in a modest format, the piece employs fine linear ink work combined with translucent washes of opaque watercolor, creating a delicate tonal balance typical of eighteenth-century Indian miniatures. The painting's formal qualities reflect a restrained palette and careful attention to the sitter's posture and the surrounding decorative elements.
History & Provenance
The untitled painting, executed in ink and opaque watercolor on paper in 1749 in India, portrays a woman smoking a hookah. It is classified as a portrait by an anonymous Indian artist and measures 22.2 cm by 15.1 cm. The work entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on view, and no earlier owners or commissioning details are documented.
Overview
This untitled painting, rendered in ink and opaque watercolor on paper, depicts a woman seated on the floor, engaged in smoking a hookah. Hailing from the Punjab Hills in northern India, the work exemplifies the regional artistic traditions. A servant attends to the coals behind the central figure, contributing to the intimate domestic scene. The vibrant palette and distinct forms are characteristic of paintings produced for local rulers in this area.
Context
This painting originates from the Punjab Hills of northern India, a region renowned for its distinctive artistic output. In this area, painters frequently worked under the patronage of local rulers, creating works that often reflected courtly life or religious narratives. The style, characterized by its vivid hues and clear forms, developed within these princely states, serving the aesthetic preferences of their patrons.
Artist & collection
