Maharaja Shri Anand Singh-ji and His Consort

1729

Maharaja Shri Anand Singh-ji and His Consort, 1729. Ustad Murad (Indian, active 1700s). Gum tempera, silver, and gold on paper; page: 22.2 x 16.8 cm (8 3/4 x 6 5/8 in.); miniature: 15.2 x 10.8 cm (6 x 4 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.195 Anand Singh, son of Maharaja Anup Singh (reigned 1669–98), affectionately slings one arm around the shoulders of his ivory-skinned queen, who holds a bottle of wine and a cup at the ready. He smokes a remarkably long hookah, and their attendant has impossibly long legs. Such mannerisms became new features of Bikaner painting during the 1700s and appear to be innovations of the master artist Murad. The silver carpet marks the royal window where subjects can come to see him.