The former kingdom of Jaipur, with Mewar, Bikaner, and Jodhpur or Marwar, is one of the four great states of Rajasthan. Lying in the northeast and east of Rajasthan, its territory is for the most part level and open. although its surface is crossed by ranges of hills and isolated peaks, and by sandy desert tracts (Shekhawati) to the north. Its beautiful and touristmobbed capital city (also called Jaipur) of more than one million inhabitants today, is the largest urban center in Rajputana, and the capital of the modern state of Rajasthan. Wealthy Jaipur sponsored a school of court painting (in imitation of the Mughals, with whom the royal family intermarried) from the earliest days, although Jaipur painting only really came into its own during and following the reign of Maharaja Jai Singh II (r. l6991743), a “renaissance man” and the person largely responsible for the present city of Jaipur, which he laid out and built in 1728. In this painting an idealized beauty, with arms akimbo, stands in a window topped by a furled curtain. She wears a long coat open to heaving breasts, an elaborate turban, and a lavish array of jewelry made from emeralds, rubies, and pearls. (Jaipur continues to be a major center of the jewelry trade today.) Like many pictures from the erstwhile royal collection, this painting was mounted in an album with richly decorated borders that imitated Mughal album formats. Another idealized beauty, encased in identical borders, would have appeared on the facing page of the original album, yet in mirror reverse. Also the reverse of these paintings, including 32. the present work, would have contained a calligraphy or European engraving, mounted in a border of a completely different design. This calligraphy or European engraving would have faced another calligraphy or European engraving encased in a border of a similar design. Like many albums of this period, the original one was in large format. Its leaves would have been opened when its viewer was seated comfortably on the floor. Sahib Ram, the head of the Jaipur royal painting atelier at the end of the eighteenth century, and an important and original artist, was the obvious inspiration for this picture. It has his whistleclean line and coloristic richness, yet lacks the artist’s quirky, individual touches. (1) But the turban and details of the lady’s dress are identical to those in a tinted drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art indisputably by Sahib Ram. (2) Even so, this work was probably painted by one of Sahib Ram’s close associates, perhaps the very talented artist Ramji. (1) For Sahiba Ram and the painters of his entourage, see Aitken, op. cit., pp. 62340. (2) Ibid, fig. 2, pg. 629 .
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Divine Pleasures: Painting from India's Rajput Courts—The Kronos Collections," June 13–September 11, 2016.
The Met's collection of Islamic art is one of the most comprehensive in the world and ranges in date from the seventh to the twenty-first century. Its more than 15,000 objects reflect the great diversity and range of the cultural traditions from Spain to Indonesia.