Bejeweled Maiden with a Parakeet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 2019

A Bejewelled Maiden with a Parakeet
ca. 1670–1700


Object Details

Title: A Bejewelled Maiden with a Parakeet

Date: ca. 1670–1700

Geography: Country of Origin India, Golconda, Deccan

Medium: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Dimensions: Image:
H. 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm)
W. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)

Classification: Codices

Credit Line: Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 2011

Accession Number: 2011.585


This young beauty seen through a cusped arch has been idealized as the daughter of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The convention of a woman holding a parakeet is seen in Deccan painting and textiles and is also known from a long standing tradition in Indian sculpture; here the prominent use of gold is typical of Deccan taste. The bird sits on the maiden’s henna-reddened fingers, each one of which is separately adorned by a diamond ring.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/457771