Seated Woman

Label text from exhibition “Company to Crown: Perceptions and Reactions in British India,” April 8–October 15, 2011, curated by Maliha Noorani, 2009–11 Norma Jean Calderwood Curatorial Fellow, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums: A Young Begum Marwar, Rajasthan, India, c. 1875 Opaque watercolor and gold on paper Signed Gopilal Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift in gratitude to John Coolidge, Gift of Leslie Cheek, Jr., Anonymous Fund in memory of Henry Berg, Louise Haskell Daly, Alpheus Hyatt, Richard Norton Memorial Funds and through the generosity of Albert H. Gordon and Emily Rauh Pulitzer; formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., 1995.140 During the Crown Raj period, toward the end of the nineteenth century, Rajasthani nobles often commissioned paintings modeled after European portraiture to attest to their status. With the advent of photography in India, local artists increasingly employed photographs as painting aids, appropriating studio photography’s compositional and stylistic elements, as is evident in this portrait. Seated in a Victorian chair among Roman columns, lush drapery with heavy tassels, and a plush, meticulously rendered emerald carpet, this Begum (an honorific title given to an aristocratic woman) is surrounded by modern luxuries that reflect European tastes. As befits a young Begum, the subject’s pose is formal and demure. Her elaborate jewelry conveys her wealth and stature: in particular, the portrait pendant of the Maharaja reflects the common practice among Rajputs to wear necklaces bearing the likeness of their family’s patron deity to indicate clan identity.