id: 170858 accession number: 2013.337 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.337 updated: 2022-03-09 10:00:29.637000 A Princess and Demons before a Nobleman: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto); Stenciled Scenes of Lion and Gazelle (verso), c. 1710. Mughal India. Opaque watercolor with gold on paper (recto); ink and gold on pink-speckled paper (verso); page: 43 x 28.9 cm (16 15/16 x 11 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, 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 2013.337 title: A Princess and Demons before a Nobleman: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto); Stenciled Scenes of Lion and Gazelle (verso) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1710 creation date earliest: 1705 creation date latest: 1715 current location: creditline: 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 copyright: --- culture: Mughal India technique: opaque watercolor with gold on paper (recto); ink and gold on pink-speckled paper (verso) department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Mughal type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Page: 43 x 28.9 cm (16 15/16 x 11 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Indian Gallery 242b Rotation – November 2016 opening date: 2016-11-07T05:00:00 Indian Gallery 242b Rotation – November 2016. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 7, 2016-April 10, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Sotheby’s, New York, NY, Indian, Himalayan and South-East Asian Art and Indian Miniatures, 16–17 March 1988, lot 329, sold to Ralph and Catherine Benkaim) date: March 17, 1988 footnotes: citations: Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1988–2013 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2013– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The source story of this painting remains enigmatic to scholars, but it includes a range of depictions of the “other”––from the foreign to the demonic. A prince kneeling in front of his horse addresses a lady; the moon in front of her face may identify her as Mahliqa (“moonlike” in Arabic), the Chinese princess identified by inscription on the adjacent page. A group of men whose eyes hang vertically stand behind her. Horned figures with grass skirts lie slain behind them, presumably killed by the kneeling prince conspicuously holding a bow. The city in the background, at the top of the painting, is populated solely by women, and its eight surrounding walls are interspersed with slain composite creatures wearing leaf skirts, which may identify them as bands of forest-dwellers, or tribal groups. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Limited, 2016. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. 73 url: Gruber, Christiane J., ed. The Moon: A Voyage Through Time. Toronto, Ontario: Aga Khan Museum, 2019. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 59, pp. 198–199 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.337/2013.337_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.337/2013.337_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.337/2013.337_full.tif