Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a watercolor painting. It dates from 1449 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 55.121.38.1
- Credit line
- Rogers Fund, 1955
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting shows a solitary female figure rendered in ink, opaque watercolor and gold, created in 1449 in India.
The painting shows a solitary female figure rendered in ink, opaque watercolor and gold, created in 1449 in India. Its religious genre situates the image within devotional practice, suggesting a symbolic representation of feminine spiritual ideal or divine personification common in contemporary Indian art. The work's iconography centers on the woman as a focal point of veneration, embodying theological concepts of purity and grace characteristic of the period's sacred imagery.
Technique & Style
This untitled religious work is executed in ink and opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper, a combination characteristic of mid-fifteenth-century Indian manuscript and devotional painting traditions. The support is paper, and the composition is markedly horizontal, measuring 11.1 cm in height by 27 cm in width, suggesting a format suited to an album leaf or a folio intended for intimate viewing rather than large-scale display. The use of gold alongside opaque watercolor indicates careful, layered handling typical of courtly or devotional workshops of the period, in which metallic pigments were burnished or applied to create luminous accents against the painted ground.
The work is classified as a painting and depicts a woman within a religious context, consistent with the refined, small-scale devotional imagery produced in India around 1449.
History & Provenance
The work is a religious painting executed in ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, depicting a woman, created in 1449 by an anonymous artist in India. The piece is currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Specific provenance details regarding previous owners, the original commission, or the precise chain of custody leading to the museum are not provided in the available records. The work remains attributed to an unknown painter, with no further biographical or transactional history documented in the sources.
Overview
This untitled painting, created in Gujarat, India, during the 15th century, features a woman in a red sari standing beneath a flowering tree. She gently holds a small bird, conveying a sense of quiet intimacy. Executed with ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, the artwork reflects the artistic conventions of its time and place, offering a glimpse into South Asian visual culture.
Artist & collection
