id: 314366 accession number: 2018.115 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.115 updated: 2023-08-24 01:24:08.042000 The Morning Toilette, 1810–25. Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Chamba. Gum tempera and gold on paper; page: 26.5 x 18.6 cm (10 7/16 x 7 5/16 in.); image: 22.1 x 13.8 cm (8 11/16 x 5 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.115 title: The Morning Toilette title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1810–25 creation date earliest: 1810 creation date latest: 1825 current location: creditline: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund copyright: --- culture: Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Chamba technique: gum tempera and gold on paper department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Page: 26.5 x 18.6 cm (10 7/16 x 7 5/16 in.); Image: 22.1 x 13.8 cm (8 11/16 x 5 7/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Indian Gallery 242 Rotation opening date: 2018-09-10T04:00:00 Indian Gallery 242 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 10, 2018-April 7, 2019). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Christie's London, England, May 4, 1966 sale, lot 233, sold to Ralph Benkaim) date: May 4, 1966 footnotes: citations: Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001], Beverly Hills, CA, by descent to his wife Catherine Benkaim date: 1966–2001 footnotes: citations: Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 2001–2018 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2018– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The costume of the handmaiden holding the mirror is inspired by older Chamba paintings. digital description: A lady, dressed in white below the waist, admires herself in a mirror held by a handmaiden. Three other ladies attend to her toilette. She stands on a large wooden stool and raises her elbow high to adjust her earrings, providing the beholder with a glimpse of her round breasts. Ewers and water pots can be seen in the foreground. wall description: The woman featured in the center embodies the poetic ideal of a female beauty, called a nayika, which translates as “heroine,” though she is not an individual from a specific story. In this scene four handmaidens attend to her after the bath. One dries her leg with a white cloth, and another brings her garments for the day folded neatly in a basin. A third holds a mirror for her to use while putting on her jewelry, selected from the box brought by the fourth attendant. The pots of bath water are amid the flowering plants in front of the hexagonal stool on which she stands.

The kings of Chamba, a territory deep in the western Himalayas, employed artists from their neighboring kingdom of Guler to create paintings such as this for their royal collections to be viewed for enjoyment in private court gatherings of men and women. Stylistically, Guler artists had close links with imperial Mughal painting traditions prevalent in the Punjab plains to the west, which resulted in the relatively naturalistic setting and figural proportions. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2018.115/2018.115_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2018.115/2018.115_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2018.115/2018.115_full.tif