Picture Details
Princess Zinat Afza Begum
Partner:
British LibraryImage reference:
BL.Add.Or.945Origin:
North, IndiaArtist / Date:
Aqil Khan, c.1760Size:
132 x 94 mmDescription:
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Window portraits or jharokas, with the subject's head and shoulders shown within a painted window-frame, became increasingly popular from Aurangzeb's period (ruled 1658-1707) in Mughal painting. Here a princess with a gold-rimmed halo kneels against a red and gold bolster at a window, facing left, holding a blue and white decanter and tiny white wine cup, a rolled-up blind above her. The bolster and blind are of matching cloth, printed with iris, tulip and poppy motifs. Her delicate hands are tipped with bright red henna, the stain made from a paste of the fresh leaves of the henna plant. Henna is used by both Hindus and Muslims as part of the cosmetic routine of women, considered suitable adornment for the hands and feet and also to treat and colour the hair and keep it soft and shiny. Although various kinds of country liquors are drunk all over the country, India's Mughal rulers were great wine-drinkers and reputedly had cherished vineyards where they produced their own wine.
