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Mahliqa, Daughter of the Emperor of China, Pointing at the Bird-Man Khwaja Mubarak: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto)

c. 1710

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

A Persian inscription identifies the bird-man in the tree by name, but the text in which he appears remains unidentified. Also unknown is the Chinese princess Mahliqa (“she who has a face like the moon”), named in a Persian inscription written in front of her face. The artist depicts her in the dress of a Mughal court lady, except for the addition of an unusual headdress, and her handmaidens all look Indian. They gesture to the bird-man from the opposite side of a formal garden canal with fountains. A fortified city lies in the distance behind the walled garden, while creatures peer up at the fabulous composite figure from the water below.

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  • Title: Mahliqa, Daughter of the Emperor of China, Pointing at the Bird-Man Khwaja Mubarak: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto)
  • Date Created: c. 1710
  • Physical Dimensions: Page: 42.2 x 28.5 cm (16 5/8 x 11 1/4 in.)
  • Provenance: (Sotheby’s, New York, NY, Indian, Himalayan and South-East Asian Art and Indian Miniatures, 16–17 March 1988, lot 327, sold to Ralph and Catherine 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/2013.336.a
  • Medium: opaque watercolor with gold on paper (recto)
  • Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
  • Culture: Mughal India
  • 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: 2013.336.a
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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