A Princess and Demons before a Nobleman: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto)
Unknown Artist
c. 1710
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
painting only: 33.8 × 23.3 cm · page: 43 × 28.9 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
Accession Number
2013.337.a
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The source story of this painting remains enigmatic to scholars, but it includes a range of depictions of the “other”––from the foreign to the demonic. A prince kneeling in front of his horse addresses a lady; the moon in front of her face may identify her as Mahliqa (“moonlike” in Arabic), the Chinese princess identified by inscription on the adjacent page. A group of men whose eyes hang vertically stand behind her. Horned figures with grass skirts lie slain behind them, presumably killed by th...