Explore the remarkable collection of Indian paintings and drawings of the artist Howard Hodgkin.
Because of the seclusion of women in court society, portraits of ladies are rare in Indian painting. But the artists could observe accessible figures such as the court dancers and musicians. This singing-girl is depicted as a nayika, an ideal heroine according to poetical theory. Her lips parted in song, she plucks a green tanpura which bisects the page. Her arching eyebrow and elongated eye typify the ideal of physical beauty developed at Kishangarh.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2nd February-22nd April 2012, Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, Andrew Topsfield, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012), no. 97 on p. 228, pp. 10, 20, 204, & 260, illus. p. 229
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Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
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