A Woman of the Court Dressed as Radha

A Woman of the Court Dressed as Radha

Ramji

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Standing boldly against a darkened interior, an idealized woman of the court is shown holding cymbals and musical clappers. All attention is placed on her luminous figure that is aggrandized by her elaborate feathered turban, long green coat and an array of faceted gems and strings of brilliant white pearls done in low relief gesso. She is a nayika, a poetic archetype of feminine beauty who embodies the charged emotional state of separation from her lover. Building on this idea and given the blue background, associated with Krishna, she may be a court beauty dressed as his paramour Radha. Large format paintings reflecting a sophisticated taste for design and spatial ambiguity were produced only during a brief moment at the end of the 18th century at the Jaipur court. While several important painters were active at this court, the distinctive style of this painting allows for a tentative attribution to the artist Ramji.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Woman of the Court Dressed as RadhaA Woman of the Court Dressed as RadhaA Woman of the Court Dressed as RadhaA Woman of the Court Dressed as RadhaA Woman of the Court Dressed as Radha

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.