Details
CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection
Object numberS1959-0041-001-0
TitleLady Beckoning To A Peacock
DescriptionIn Lady Beckoning to a Peacock, the bird, whose thirst is proverbial, was believed in the drier areas of India to induce rain. The peacock was (and continues to be) the symbol of romantic and passionate love. In 1963, the Indian government accorded the peacock the status of the National Bird. Likewise, most of the other objects represented in perceptive concepts that depict how courtly life was to be remembered and understood through an artistic medium. Miniature painters employed at various royal courts, during the “medieval” period, discovered the potential of expression in their depiction of how later generations of artists and nationalists fighting for Indian independence from colonialism would turn to, in expressing eclectic modes of being which encompass often unnoticed syncretism within the seemingly “Islamic” as Munhall and “Hindu” as Rajput motifs that the practice of miniature painting so vividly hybridizes.
Production placeIndia, Rajasthan
Production period18th C
Object categoryPainting
MaterialDye on Paper, Dye, Paper
Dimensions
H: 32.5 cm
L: 21 cm
L: 21 cm
Credit lineDonated by the Indian Government
