Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window

Description

A golden window shade has been rolled up to reveal a princess seated on a terrace. The carpet draped over the sill echoes that of the balcony rail where royals would show themselves to the public. Rather than taking the view of an outsider, the viewer looks from inside the palace out to the women and the wooded landscape beyond.

During the mid-1600s, the Mughal court introduced a preference for the patterns on carpets and textiles: flowering plants on a plain ground. This influential fashion derived from their appreciation of European botanical studies that merchants and diplomats brought to India.

Provenance

George Bickford [1901–1991] and Clara Louise Gehring Bickford [1903–1985], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?–1955); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1955–)

Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window

Aqil Khan

c. 1765

Accession Number

1955.297

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Dimensions

Image: 12.5 x 7.8 cm (4 15/16 x 3 1/16 in.); Overall: 44 x 31.6 cm (17 5/16 x 12 7/16 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of George P. Bickford