Maharana Ari Singh with His Courtiers Being Entertained at the Jagniwas Water Palace

Maharana Ari Singh with His Courtiers Being Entertained at the Jagniwas Water Palace

Bhima

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The maharana expresses his power and social position in this complicated work, which incorporates numerous figures set within the landscape of a lake palace. Employing multiple viewpoints, the painters depict Ari Singh in the main hall with his chiefs organized according to rank. They look on at a festival performance of dance and music. Ari Singh appears again in the lower left, next to a pool filled with fish and surrounded by tiny wall paintings populated with erotic scenes and the ten avatars (appearances) of Vishnu.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maharana Ari Singh with His Courtiers Being Entertained at the Jagniwas Water PalaceMaharana Ari Singh with His Courtiers Being Entertained at the Jagniwas Water PalaceMaharana Ari Singh with His Courtiers Being Entertained at the Jagniwas Water PalaceMaharana Ari Singh with His Courtiers Being Entertained at the Jagniwas Water PalaceMaharana Ari Singh with His Courtiers Being Entertained at the Jagniwas Water Palace

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.