Minneapolis Institute of Art

Album folio of a pink lotus

India

Date

18th century

Medium

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

There are many ways to contextualize this fluidly painted flower. It is said that flowers became an important painting genre in the Mughal studios after the Emperor Jehangir (reign 1605–27) encountered the springtime flora of the Kashmir Valley in northwestern India. This also coincided with the arrival of European floral prints brought by Jesuit missionaries. Already, floral sprays were a primary element in Mughal (reign 1526–1857) decorative arts, inspired by the pervasive floral environments of the paradisal gardens described in Islamic texts. Here, the painter imaginatively interprets a pink lotus, which is associated with purity in many South Asian belief systems.

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