{
"data": {
"id": 170883,
"accession_number": "2013.349",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Court lady singing and playing the vina, c. 1760. Attributed to Muhammad Rizavi Hindi (Indian, active mid-1700s). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; page: 31.1 x 26.2 cm (12 1/4 x 10 5/16 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, 2013.349",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Court lady singing and playing the vina",
"creation_date": "c. 1760",
"creation_date_earliest": 1755,
"creation_date_latest": 1765,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"India, Mughal, 18th century"
],
"technique": "Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Indian and Southeast Asian Art",
"collection": "Indian Art - Mughal",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Page: 31.1 x 26.2 cm (12 1/4 x 10 5/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"page": {
"height": 0.311,
"height_inch": 12,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"width": 0.262,
"width_inch": 10,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.3125
},
"painting only": {
"height": 0.205,
"height_inch": 8,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0625,
"width": 0.158,
"width_inch": 6,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Verso: Persian verses in nasta\u2018liq script.\nOnce again \u2018Iraqi broke his vows:/\nFrom the cup of love he became intoxicated and ecstatic.",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "Verso: Persian verses in nasta\u2018liq script.\nUntil you are bold enough to take to the seas,/\nYou will not reap spiritual benefits from your inner heart./\nUntil you have pitched your tent next to the spiritual guide/\nYou will not enjoy him to the fullest.",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 203111,
"title": "Art and Stories from Mughal India",
"description": "Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).",
"opening_date": "2016-07-31T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Beauty in Asia. Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore (May 3-September 23, 2007).",
"opening_date": "2007-05-03T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Sir Charles Forbes, 7th Baronet [1773-1849], Bengal, London, and Scotland, by descent to his great-grandson, Colonel Sir John Forbes",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-1849",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Colonel Sir John Stewart Forbes [1901-1984], Baronet, DSO, DL, Allargue House, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK, consigned to Sotheby's London for sale",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-1962",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(Sotheby's, London, Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, lot 23)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "December 10, 1962",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001], Beverly Hills, CA, by descent to his wife Catherine Benkaim",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1962-2001",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2001-2013",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2013-",
"sortorder": 6
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "When the mouth is open, and teeth and tongue are showing, she is singing.",
"description": "Her mouth open slightly in song, the woman\u2019s hennaed fingers strum a three-string vina, an Indian musical instrument with a resonator made from a gourd. Music was an essential component of courtly entertainment, along with the drinking of wine and the appreciation of poetry, paintings, and jewels.
On the verso, the first two lines in Persian read:
Once again, Iraqi broke his vows:
From the cup of love he became intoxicated and ecstatic.
The excerpt from the mystic poet Jami is more of a pious injunction:
Until you are bold enough to take to the seas,
You will not reap spiritual benefits from your inner heart.
Unless you pitch your tent next to the spiritual guide,
You will not enjoy him to the fullest.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60482267"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2013.349-court-lady-singing-a"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Sotheby's, London. Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures. December 10, 1962.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: Lot 23",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Krishnan, Gauri Parimoo. Beauty in Asia: 200 BCE to Today. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum, 2007.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 31b",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "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": "Reproduced:cat. no. 86, pp. 256-257",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.349",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
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"width": "762",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "236642",
"filename": "2013.349_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.349/2013.349_print.jpg",
"width": "2878",
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"filesize": "2733057",
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"alternate_images": [],
"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",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 170883,
"creators": [
{
"id": 63557,
"description": "Muhammad Rizavi Hindi (Indian, active mid-1700s)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": "attributed to",
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"death_year": "1799",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2013-12-02T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1755,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1760",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "cover",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:47:21.880000"
}
}