Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window

About the Artwork

A golden window shade has been rolled up to reveal a princess seated on a terrace. The carpet draped over the sill echoes that of the balcony rail where royals would show themselves to the public. Rather than taking the view of an outsider, the viewer looks from inside the palace out to the women and the wooded landscape beyond. During the mid-1600s, the Mughal court introduced a preference for the patterns on carpets and textiles: flowering plants on a plain ground. This influential fashion derived from their appreciation of European botanical studies that merchants and diplomats brought to India.

Inscriptions

'amal 'Aqil Khān

Provenance

?–1955: George Bickford [1901–1991] and Clara Louise Gehring Bickford [1903–1985], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1955–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

Wooster College Exhibition. The College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, OH (organizer) (April 5-27, 1970). Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016). Carpets and Canopies in Mughal India (Indian art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 22-September 8, 2024).

Quick Overview

Artist: Aqil Khan (Indian, active mid-1700s)
Date: c. 1765
Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions: Image: 12.5 x 7.8 cm (4 15/16 x 3 1/16 in.); Overall: 44 x 31.6 cm (17 5/16 x 12 7/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Gift of George P. Bickford
Accession no.: 1955.297

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.