Showing posts with label Hindouisme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hindouisme. Show all posts

“A Palace Complex with Harem Gardens” India, Faizabad or Lucknow, c. 1765


The miniature, whose primary motif is a fantastic palace complex populated by a prince’s concubines along with their female servants and guards, in a way depicts the world as one great garden. In the distance we see the prince on the back of an elephant, and on the other side of the river all manner of activities are taking place that form a powerful contrast to the perhaps pleasant but enforced idleness of the women of the harem.

"Four Women in a Palace Garden" India, Bundi, mid-18th Century


This exotic and atmospheric miniature from Bundi simply radiates the heat of a tropical night. The garden’s vegetation, especially the lush trees, could have inspired the French naivist Henri Rousseau. The four women stand like gaily adorned flowers, enjoying the evening while they await the master of the house, who seems to be symbolized by the peacock with tail spread out. Sounds in the background are the crackling of the “Roman candles,” the quacking of the ducks, and the distant creaking of the waterwheel.