Page 129 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York
P. 129
86 Till the reign of Aurangzeb jharokha portraits were restricted to
A PRINCESS AT A PALACE WINDOW emperors alone, but afterwards they became fashionable for showing
Mughal Kishangarh, circa 1740-150 idealized ladies. This princess, with her stylized “Kishangarh eye”, is
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; verso with nastaliq calligraphy. of an inscrutable, earnest beauty. She wears a golden turban and an
Image: 7 1/4 x 5 1/8 in. (18.4 x 13 cm); exquisitely adorned (and discrete) transparent garment. The marble
Folio: 8 3/8 x 5 3/4 in. (21.2 x 14.5 cm) window is also sumptuous with its finely carved arch. Over the parapet
$12,000 - 15,000 lies a golden carpet, pendant to the golden rolled-up curtain above.
Gold becomes the color unifying portrait and window frame.
‘Window portraits had been a feature of Mughal art since the
seventeenth century, painted in imitation of Renaissance portraits The verso’s calligraphy with two couplets from a ghazal of Hafiz:
transmitted to India via the medium of prints. Like their models, ‘Wonders of the path of love are numerous, O friend!
a parapet beneath converts the open frame into an architectural Lion took flight from a deer in this desert
space and a rolled up curtain above completes the illusion that we Do not complain of grief, because in the path seeking
are looking through a window.’ (Topsfield, In the Realm of Gods and [No one] reached comfort unless he took trouble’
Kings, London, 2004, p. 299.)
Provenance
Private European Collection, acquired between 1968-72
INDIAN, HIMALAYAN & SOUTHEAST ASIAN ART | 127
