Women bathing before an architectural panorama, by Fayzullah, c. 1765
Gallery mode Full size at the museum

Window mode follows your eyes with your camera, in this browser only: no picture or position leaves your device.

Women bathing before an architectural panorama

Fayzullah (Indian, active c. 1730–1765)

c. 1765

Medium
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Classification
Painting
Culture
India, Lucknow, Mughal
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions nudity. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Despite the wars waged and forts besieged in the background, life in the palace is carefree and luxurious. Some women enjoy hookahs and music on balconies, while others swim and drink liquor with abandon from Chinese porcelain cups and bottles. The artist has placed his name under the central pavilion, observing the scene across a formal garden of marigolds. The artist seems to have enjoyed experimenting with the idea of perspective, learned from European sources. He created a rapidly receding space that telescopes the view from the intimate harem quarters to the distant battlefields.