A Portrait of a Lady Holding a Sparkler
A guided tour of the shimmering details of this Indian miniature painting.
Lady Holding a Sparkler (Shah Jahan Period c. 1660) by UnknownNational Museum - New Delhi
A young lady holds in one hand a lit sparkler, while in the other hand, an unlit one, which she will presumably light after the showers of the lit firework in her hand have been exhausted.
A diaphanous duppatta lined with gold flows around her head and crosses her shoulders.
Thin snaking wisps of smoke rise in undulating swirls. The light from the sparkler creates a glow against the dark background.
She is attired in multiple layers of gossamer thin diaphanous garments - a tight fitting bodice stops short of her navel, another layer of peshwaj is worn on top.
Her affluent means are indicated by the quality of muslin garments that appear almost transparent, indicative of the best and the most expensive muslins that would weigh less than an ounce each.
Here they are woven with delicate gold border and gold motifs.
Through her transparent peshwaz is visible a brocaded pajama embroidered with dainty orange flowers and the orange embroidered slippers she wears on her feet completes her ensemble.
Light orange colour marks her delicate fingers.
The lady wears numerous ornaments; delicately rendered armlets, bracelets..
..and strings of pearls across her chest and circle around her neck, pearls adorn her ears and her nose.
The deep brown background which she is silhouetted against presents a wonderful contrast to her form and the gold shower from the sparkler.
The lit sparkler she holds rains a willow of tiny flecks of gold on the ground, while above a glittering canopy of twinkling stars fills the dark sky.
Thin snaking wisps of smoke rise in undulating swirls. The light from the sparkler creates a glow against the dark background.
The face of the woman is delicately shaded, with arched eyebrows and long eyes, a hint of pink at the edge of the eye alluding to her eyes as lovely lotuses. Her hair is rendered in thin fine strands.
The artist highlights and balances little areas of colour
..orange flowers in the pajama, in the slippers, in the delicately coloured fingers..
...in the floral motifs on her bodice and the tiny flame balance the pale whites and golds with remarkable subtlety.
While the subject of elite women lighting up and playing with fireworks was a popular theme in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is a subject taken up by not only Mughal artists but artists from Awadh, Murshidabad, the various Rajput courts as well as the courts in the Deccan, the manner of depiction of the face with its delicate shading, the plain background, and the floral motifs on the paijama situate the painting around the 1660’s.
