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A prince conversing with a woman while taking refreshments on a terrace (recto); Calligraphy (verso)
c. 1710-1720
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
A princess pours liquor from a golden bottle into a tiny cup for a prince visiting the women’s quarters in a Mughal palace. The carpeted terrace overlooks a garden of flowering trees. The pair’s royal status is indicated by the attendants who hold the white cloth and peacock-feather whisks. Two other women bring jewels and a vial of perfume to be inspected and discussed by the royal connoisseurs. This is a setting where books, paintings, and poetry also would be enjoyed.
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Details
- Title: A prince conversing with a woman while taking refreshments on a terrace (recto); Calligraphy (verso)
- Date Created: c. 1710-1720
- Physical Dimensions: Page: 30.5 x 24.1 cm (12 x 9 1/2 in.)
- Provenance: Sir Charles Forbes, 7th Baronet [1773-1849], Bengal, London, and Scotland, by descent to his great-grandson, Colonel Sir John Forbes, Colonel Sir John Stewart Forbes [1901-1984], Baronet, DSO, DL, Allargue House, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK, consigned to Sotheby's London for sale, (Sotheby’s, London, Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 10 December 1962, lot 9, sold to Ralph Benkaim), Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.335
- Medium: opaque watercolor with gold on paper, blue and buff borders (recto); ink on paper, script from Sadi's Bustan (verso)
- Inscriptions: Verso: From a Bustan (Fragrant Herb Garden) of Sa‘di (Persian, 1210–1291). Persian text in nasta‘liq script: Why do the adherents of Idea to this not cleave—/ That only the Elect may go in water or in fire?/ As for the infant, uninformed of fire,/ Does not his mother guard him lovingly?/ Those, then, who’re drowned in ecstasy/ By night and day are in the very care of Truth:/ He guards the Friend against the fire’s heat/ As Moses’s crib against the whirlpools of the Nile;/ When an infant’s in a swimmer’s arms/ He knows no fear, broad though the Tigris be;/ But how shall you step on the ocean’s face/ As do real men, when even on dry land your skirt is wet?/ The way of the intellect is all twists and turns,/ But the concern of the gnostics is for God alone!/ This can be said to those who recognize realities,/ Though adherents of analogy may carp thereat and say:/ “What, then, is heaven, and what earth besides?/ Who are the sons of Adam, and the beasts both wild and tame?”/ A proper thing you’ve asked, O prudent one!/ I’ll tell you—if you find the answer proper:/ The plain and the ocean, the mountain and the sky,/ Pari and manchild, demon and angel—/ All, whatsoever they be, are less than That/ By virtue of Whose being they utter being’s name!/ Monstrous before you, with its waves, lies the ocean;/ High is the sun, all ablaze at the zenith; (after Wickens 1974, 113)
- Fun Fact: The prince removed his shoes before joining the picnic on the carpeted terrace.
- Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Culture: India, Mughal, 18th century
- 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
- Collection: Indian Art - Mughal
- Accession Number: 2013.335
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