Cleveland Museum of Art

Women Enjoying the River at the Forest’s Edge (recto)

Hunhar II

Date: c. 1765
Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
Culture: India, Murshidabad or Lucknow, Mughal, 18th century
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

The image of young women at play, in association with water and the fruiting of trees, such as this mango, has been used in Indian art to signal the idea of prosperity and abundance. Rain clouds approach that will nourish the land. The pairs of women on the banks sample perfumes, and in front of them bowls made of leaves appear to hold jasmine flowers for adorning the hair. One woman smokes a hookah and looks on as two companions frolic in the rivulet. The palace’s white marble buildings are barely indicated in the far distance. Mangoes are in varying stages of ripeness, from green to bright orange-yellow.

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