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Harem night-bathing scene, from the Late Shah Jahan Album (recto)
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The subject of women bathing persisted throughout the 1500s and into the 1600s. Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan—the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal—continued to support the work of artists in the imperial atelier. His taste was more formal and subdued, without as much interest in illuminations of fantastic tales. This scene is a single painting mounted in an album. The white marble terraces glow under the moonlight. An attendant carrying a cloth over one arm looks on with awe at the beauty of the scene. He is probably a eunuch, since men were not permitted to serve in the women’s quarters of a Mughal palace.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineHarem night-bathing scene, from the Late Shah Jahan Album (recto), c. 1653. Mughal India, court of Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–58). Gum tempera, gold, and ink on paper; overall: 37.8 x 27.3 cm (14 7/8 x 10 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alton W. Whitehouse, 1987.153.a
