A fly-infested Feast
Indian paintings were sometimes used as vehicles for satire. Here Brahmans partake of a feast that has been invaded by a swarm of flies. Two senior Brahmans are seen seated in an open grass-thatched pavilion together with another man dressed in white, likely the young prince who is hosting the feast. As the senior clerics eat from silver trays, attendants attempt to fan away the flies, while the assembly of Brahmans in the lower scene eat from the more customary palm leaf: all part of the painting’s likely purpose of ridiculing a self-serving priesthood.
Artwork Details
- Title: A fly-infested Feast
- Date: ca. 1740–50
- Culture: India, Himachal Pradesh, Chamba
- Medium: Brush drawing with opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 16 1/8 × 23 1/4 in. (41 × 59 cm)
Framed: 20 3/8 × 27 × 3/4 in. (51.8 × 68.6 × 1.9 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, by exchange, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.249
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Northern India, Guler, Himachal Pradesh
ca. 1740
Nainsukh
ca. 1760–65
Manaku
ca. 1725
India (Punjab Hills, Chamba)
18th century
India, Deccan, Aurangabad (?)
late 18th century
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