Women bathing before an architectural panorama

About the Artwork

Despite the wars waged and forts besieged in the background, life in the palace is carefree and luxurious. Some women enjoy hookahs and music on balconies, while others swim and drink liquor with abandon from Chinese porcelain cups and bottles. The artist has placed his name under the central pavilion, observing the scene across a formal garden of marigolds. The artist seems to have enjoyed experimenting with the idea of perspective, learned from European sources. He created a rapidly receding space that telescopes the view from the intimate harem quarters to the distant battlefields.

Inscriptions

Persian inscription in center, on marble balustrade, in nasta‘liq script: The work of Fayzullah

Provenance

February 28, 1974: (Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, Oriental Miniatures, Fine Books, Autographs, 28 February 1974, lot 131) April 11, 1989: (Christie’s, London, Important Islamic, Indian and Southeast Asian Manuscripts, Miniatures and Works of Art, 11 April 1989, lot 94) 1989–2001: Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA 2001–2013: Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art 2013–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

Imagining the Garden. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2015-March 6, 2016). Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).

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

Quick Overview

Artist: Fayzullah (Indian, active c. 1730–1765)
Date: c. 1765
Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
Accession no.: 2013.344

More by Fayzullah in museum collections

A blindfolded suitor is brought before a princess (recto)
Fayzullah
1755 · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009939
A blindfolded suitor is brought before a princess; verso: scrolling floral vines
Fayzullah
1755 · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010147