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A TRYST IN THE HAREM MUGHAL, CIRCA 1660 image 1
A TRYST IN THE HAREM MUGHAL, CIRCA 1660 image 2
Lot 3103

A TRYST IN THE HAREM
MUGHAL, CIRCA 1660

19 March 2018, 15:00 EDT
New York

US$50,000 - US$70,000

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A TRYST IN THE HAREM

MUGHAL, CIRCA 1660
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Image: 6 3/4 x 4 3/8 in. (17.3 x 12.2 cm);
Folio: 12 3/4 x 8 1/2 in. (32.5 x 21.6 cm)

Footnotes

In a relatively humble setting, the princess receives wine from her close companion or lover who kneels before her on the bed, gazing intently. Attendants stand ready, one by the door, others with a fan and refilling morchals, while a further prepares pan on a grinding stone in the foreground on the other side from the musician – all common attendants in the pictorial repertoire of the palatial tryst. Unlike the fireworks scene (lot 3101) with inlaid marble walls serving as the backdrop, here the zenana's architecture shows a plain thatched wall, the only trace of luxury being found in the gold-design white door cover. Yet each woman's sumptuous vesture suggest they remain within the palace environs overlooking the carefully painted arboretum, perhaps in a secret location for the tryst.

Compare with a closely related composition of the same period, formerly in the Lloyd Collection, published in Losty, Indian Miniatures from the Lloyd Collection, London, 2011, no.4. The treatment of the faces, textiles and distinctive prominent patkas that fall between their legs are almost identical. Losty notes that "The modeling is exceptionally soft, seen especially in the group of the princess and her attendants, derived from earlier artists such as Govardhan and Payag." The red awning is secured by white ropes tied to a pole out of sight, a feature shared by both pages. For other closely related examples of the Shah Jahan period in the Chester Beatty Library, see Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings, London, p.476 & 501.

Provenance
Pantheon Worldwide Ltd, Hong Kong, 2016
Collection of a Private European Family

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