A Disconsolate Lady on a Terrace with Attendants
Unknown Artist
c. 1730
Medium
Gum tempera, silver, and gold on paper
Dimensions
page: 28.3 × 22.9 cm · miniature: 23.5 × 15.2 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
2018.185
About this artwork
This princess is waiting for her lover to arrive. Thinking of him, she touches her breast and her lap, while one attendant keeps flies off with the royal whisk, and the other bites her finger in a gesture of astonishment. The artist has whimsically manipulated elements of the landscape, such as the blazing sun peeking out from behind the flat black hill at the lower left corner, and invading the yellow strip at the top with blocks of blue sky to accommodate the finials of the palace rooftops.