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

Description

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 of a Mughal palace.

Provenance

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1987–)

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

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c. 1653

Accession Number

1987.153.a

Medium

Gum tempera, gold, and ink on paper

Dimensions

Overall: 37.8 x 27.3 cm (14 7/8 x 10 3/4 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alton W. Whitehouse