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Govardhan (North India, Mughal)
Two Courtiers, ca. 1610–15
opaque watercolor on paper, heightened with gold
5 1/2 x 3 5/8 in.
Museum purchase, Karl E. Weston Memorial Fund
76.3.B



 
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Govardhan (North India, Mughal)
Two Courtiers, ca. 1610–15

Studios producing Mughal manuscripts resembled complex and organized assembly lines. Copyists, colorists, gilders, calligraphers, pagers, binders, and others worked under the direction of master painters to produce works of combined effort. Govardhan, a court artist, painted this small fragment of the border to an album page for the Mughal leader Jahangir, the descendant of the legendary ruler Akbar. Margin pages such as this were meant to be replaceable, protecting the edges of the album from too much handling when the sheets were turned. The margin pages were often as carefully painted as the central portion, hinting at the quality of the overall page they decorated.



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