- Title
- European Woman Seated on a Terrace Smoking a Venetian-Style Hookah, Folio from an Album Belonging to Nawab Shuja al-Daula (r. 1754-1775)
- Date Made
- circa 1760-1775
- Period
- 18th century
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 8 x 5 3/4 in. (20.32 x 14.61 cm); Sheet: 18 1/8 x 12 3/4 in. (46.04 x 32.39 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.72.88.5
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
The reverse of this painting is inscribed “His Excellency the Regent, Shuja al-Daula the hero.” (Translation by Wheeler Thackston.) It is one of the few extant artworks documented with an inscription or seal stamp indicating that it was once in a nawabi collection, in this case the Nawab Shuja al-Daula (r. 1754-1775).
The eclectic style of Mir Kalan Khan (active circa 1730-1780) encouraged many followers, including the artist of this painting, which combines features drawn from European and Indian sources. The European woman is dressed in a long outer garment adorned with purple irises on a gold ground. It is worn over an orange inner garment with gold flowers. Note the outer garment’s sleeve hanging from the left arm. She wears a long strand of pearls interspersed with rubies and emeralds. Her long hair cascades onto her shoulders with a feather plume dangling from hey bejeweled hair ornament on the back of her head. She sits in a European-style chair with a tall back, arched crest rail, voluted finials, and inset gemstones. In her right hand, she grasps a stiff reed used as an inhalation tube for smoking a Venetian-style hookah, the base of which appears to be made of either opaque “milk” white glass or porcelain. She holds a handkerchief in her left hand. The setting is a palace terrace at night. She is seated on a small yellow-and-gold rug, which is unusually laid atop a larger green-and-pink floral carpet covering the entire terrace.
- Selected Bibliography
- Markel, Stephen & Gude, Tushara Bundu. India's Fabled City. The Art of Courtly Lucknow. Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Del Monico Books- Prestel. Los Angeles, CA. 2010..
