Sultan 'Abdallah Qutb Shah in procession
Golconda, Deccan; 1635-40
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Cynthia Hazen Polsky Collection (2040-IP)
Maharana Bhupal Singh of Mewar with courtiers at a tank
Udaipur, Rajasthan; ca. 1930-35
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Cynthia Hazen Polsky Collection (8060-IP)
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Court Life
Scenes of court life—royal processions and assemblies or
domestic groups—tend to be idealized and conventional in treatment,
similar to contemporary literary descriptions of such scenes. Rendering
a detailed, first-hand account of events at a specific, historical
court was one of the innovations of Mughal painting in the late
sixteenth century. At the dynamic studio of Akbar (r. 1556–1605),
the most gifted painters learned their art from newly available
European models as well as from more traditional sources. In the
outlying kingdoms of the Deccani sultans from the sixteenth to the
seventeenth century and of the Rajput maharajas from the
late seventeenth century onward, a more rounded and often more relaxed
picture of court life is presented in paintings. In Rajasthan, patrons
such as Maharana Amar Singh II and his successors at Udaipur encouraged
their artists to portray daily court life—sometimes also including
more private moments in the company of ladies—in unprecedented,
almost documentary detail.
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