Window mode follows your eyes with your camera, in this browser only: no picture or position leaves your device.
Tiered Court Scene
Chitarman II (Indian, c. 1680–с. 1750)
c. 1735
- Medium
- Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Overall: 54.6 x 39 cm (21 1/2 x 15 3/8 in.); Painting: 40.1 x 29.1 cm (15 13/16 x 11 7/16 in.)
- Culture
- Northern India, Delhi, Mughal court of Muhammad Shah (reigned 1719–48)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Michael de Havenon
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Emperor Muhammad Shah rekindled an imperial interest in Hinduism that had not been so strong since the time of Akbar, 150 years before. He commissioned this painting that shows the acts of Rama, hero of a Hindu epic, who slays the demon of the golden city of Lanka at the top of the page. In the middle sections, various Hindu deities enjoy music, kite flying, and boating, while at the bottom the Krishna plays Holi with his lover Radha and other palace women. They shoot red-colored water at one another with plunger guns in celebration of the coming of spring.
