Cleveland Museum of Art

Royal Women Celebrating Diwali

Date: c. 1760
Medium: gum tempera and gold on paper
Culture: Northern India, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

Lined along the eaves, the top of the marble lattice railing, and the rims of the boats on the river are candles and butter lamps lit in celebration of a New Year festival. A princess on a golden armchair lights sparklers with her friends. In the boats and on the far shore men set off sparklers under the light of a magnificent firework display under the full moon. The style of this work is typical of Mughal painting from the mid-1700s, when scenes of domestic life among women of the court were a favorite subject for the imperial artists. "Diwali" comes from the Sanskrit words dīpa (lamp) and āvali (rows or series).

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