A blindfolded suitor is brought before a princess (recto)

Also known as: A Blindfolded Suitor is Brought before a Lady

About the Artwork

In a scene set on a carpeted terrace in the women’s palace quarters, an older woman of the harem drags a young prince with a white blindfold over his eyes before a princess grasping a document. Such a scene evokes a literary allusion of a princess who selects her suitor, but it also resonates with circumstances at the Mughal court. Signed and dated by the artist, this painting was completed at a time when powerful women wielded control over the emperor, and Ahmad Shah Bahadur (reigned 1748–54), son and successor of Muhammad Shah, had been blinded and deposed less than one year before.

Inscriptions

signed in two places: on capital of central pillar: 'amal - i Fayzullah ("the workof Fayzullah"), and below: bi - qalam i Fayzullah Musavvir walad - i Faqirullah Musavvir dar sanna 1755 ("by the pen of Fayazullah the painter son of Faqirullah the painter in the the year 1755")

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: 1755
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.: 2013.343.a

More by Fayzullah in museum collections

Women bathing before an architectural panorama
Fayzullah
c. 1765 · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009760
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