Paintings of princesses and women of the harem relaxing or languishing on a palace terrace while enjoying music, wine, and other pleasures, as well as celebrating festivals and playing games, became a stock motif in the 18th century for portraying the luxurious lifestyle of the Indian royalty. Such stereotypical portraits were created not only to depict a particular court, but also to project a calculated image of the wealth and prestige of the kingdom. Typically accompanied by serving maidens and attendants, the privileged royals indulged in a range of pastimes in these classic “terrace-scenes.” Princesses might lounge on a platform bed while listening to music and partaking of wine and food delicacies (see this folio and M.72.36.2), or they might recline languidly on the bed disconsolate over an absent lover while receiving a foot massage and being fanned by maidservants (see M.72.88.8 and M.76.149.3) or tenderly consoled (see M.77.154.24). These idealized portraits of women imbibing or pining on terraces parallel thematically similar representations of heroines (nayikas) in various emotional states, often yearning to be united with their paramours. Their erotic desire is a metaphor for the soul’s quest for the divine. A princess reclines against floralized bolsters while listening to two musicians at sunset. She holds a floral garland and is smoking an enameled hookah with a silk velvet cover for the “snake” (inhalation tube). A maidservant offers her perfume from a bottle.

• Markel, Stephen. Mughal and Early Modern Metalware from South Asia at LACMA: An Online Scholarly Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2020. https://archive.org/details/mughal-metalware (accessed September 7, 2021).

• Pal, Pratapaditya, Thomas W. Lentz, Sheila R. Canby, Edwin Binney, 3rd, Walter B. Denny, and Stephen Markel. "Arts from Islamic Cultures: Los Angeles County Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 17, no. 6 (November/December 1987): 73-130.