Maharaja Vijai Singh Bathes with a Woman of the Court at Nagaur Palace
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.Maharaja Vijai Singh of Jodhpur (r. 1752–93) stands bare-chested in an octagonal bathing pool along with eighteen women of the zenana (harem). The pool is enclosed by a white marble openwork (jali) balustrade, and the water is painted silver (now darkened with oxidization). A small marble pavilion with a sweeping roofline and richly patterned rug mark his royal seat. Singh wears a green lungi (skirt cloth) with a golden cummerbund and a dramatically large green turban, as was the Jodhpur fashion. He holds a metal syringe with which he playfully douses the women with water, recalling the annual Holi spring festival.
Artwork Details
- Title: Maharaja Vijai Singh Bathes with a Woman of the Court at Nagaur Palace
- Date: ca. 1760
- Culture: India, Rajasthan, Jodhpur
- Medium: Opaque watercolor with gold and silver on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 16 × 23 1/8 in. (40.7 × 58.7 cm)
Framed: 21 1/4 × 28 3/8 × 3/4 in. (54 × 72.1 × 1.9 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Howard Hodgkin Collection, on loan from the Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust
- Object Number: L.2022.30.20
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art