Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a watercolor painting. It dates from 1700 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 1981.371.2
- Credit line
- Gift of Wendy Findlay, 1981
About this work
Two men sit on the floor sharing a long hookah pipe, one talking, the other listening. The room is simple, just cushions and a patterned rug, in fine ink and bright watercolor with touches of gold. Made in Kota, a small Rajasthan kingdom, around 1700, for a royal album, where the gold marked the men's status. For more, look up: men, smoking, india (rajasthan, kota).
Subject & Meaning
The figure and the act of smoking constitute the primary subject matter, with the hookah serving as both a narrative prop and a focal visual element.
The composition centers on a man engaged in the act of smoking a hookah, rendered in ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. The figure and the act of smoking constitute the primary subject matter, with the hookah serving as both a narrative prop and a focal visual element. Produced in India around 1700, the work belongs to a tradition of courtly and domestic genre painting in which the leisurely consumption of tobacco through an elaborate water pipe carried connotations of refinement, sociability, and contemplative repose.
The use of gold alongside opaque watercolor suggests an elevated aesthetic register, in which the depiction of a smoker was less a record of everyday life than an evocation of cultivated pleasure and quiet introspection.
Technique & Style
Created in India around 1700, this anonymous work is executed in ink and opaque watercolor enhanced with gold on a paper support. The piece functions as a genre scene, formally characterized by its depiction of a solitary male figure engaged in smoking a hookah. Physically, the artwork measures approximately 15.9 by 11 centimeters, indicating a small-scale format typical of portable manuscript illustrations or album pages from the period.
The application of gold alongside pigments suggests a decorative approach common in South Asian painting traditions of the era, emphasizing surface richness. Currently held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the object is classified within the museum's paintings department.
History & Provenance
Untitled is an anonymous Indian painting dated to 1700, executed in ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper. The work portrays a man smoking a hookah and is classified as a genre scene. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is catalogued under accession number 1981.371.2 and remains in New York.
No records indicate a specific commission or patron; the artist is identified only as anonymous. The dating is based on stylistic analysis and the museum's provenance notes, which trace the piece from its creation in India to its acquisition by the museum. The sources do not provide additional information regarding its exhibition history or prior provenance beyond its current institutional holding and accession designation.
Overview
This untitled painting, created around 1700 in the Rajasthani kingdom of Kota, depicts two men sharing a hookah pipe. Executed with ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, it was originally designed for inclusion in a royal album. The artwork captures a quiet, intimate moment between the figures, reflecting a common subject in the region's artistic tradition.
Artist & collection
- Maharaja Kharak Singh
Raja Chattar Singh smoking
Untitled
Raja Anand Dev
Untitled
Posthumous portrait of Raja Chhatar Singh of Chamba smoking a hookah
The origin of music from a fabulous bird of India which had seven holes in its beak, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourteenth Night
Rafi-U'ddarjat
Nau Nihal Singh
Rao Narain Das
Rao Budh Singh of Bundi
Emperor Rafi ud-Darajat
