Seated Lady Smoking a Hookah

c. 1780

Seated Lady Smoking a Hookah, c. 1780. Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Guler. Gum tempera, gold, and beetle-wing carapaces on paper; page: 32.1 x 25.3 cm (12 5/8 x 9 15/16 in.); image: 24.1 x 16 cm (9 1/2 x 6 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.106 A lady seated at window smokes a hookah. She wears a translucent lilac blouse and gold trousers and adorns herself with jewelry comprising pearls, gold, and emeralds. Reclining against a large bolster, she is engrossed in smoking her hookah made of gold and porcelain. The painting may have been intended to be presented to the king by the artist. The artist has used beetle wings for emeralds in the jewelry.