Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil windowc. 1765 · Study 1955.297

Context from the museum

A golden window shade has been rolled up to reveal a princess seated on a terrace. The carpet draped over the sill echoes that of the balcony rail where royals would show themselves to the public. Rather than taking the view of an outsider, the viewer looks from inside the palace out to the women and the wooded landscape beyond. During the mid-1600s, the Mughal court introduced a preference for the patterns on carpets and textiles: flowering plants on a plain ground. This influential fashion derived from their appreciation of European botanical studies that merchants and diplomats brought to India.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Unlike in portraits of the emperor, women sit on the outside of the royal window.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected image measurement for Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window is 7.8 cm wide and 12.5 cm high, equivalent to approximately 3.1 × 4.9 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 0.62:1. The rectangular bounding area is 0.01 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 2.6% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 146.1 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With Princess and attendant in trompe l’oeil window in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this vertical composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 7.8 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?