Casket

Gallery 329, Asian Art, third floor (Lahiri Gallery)

Main Building

Casket

Mid- 17th century

Artist/maker unknown, Indian or Pakistani

This casket was probably made as a dowry chest. Around the exterior and interior, scenes typical of court painting are depicted: feasting, dancing, hunting, and romance. Some of the couples are intended as generic representations of lovers. Others can be identified as particular lovers from literature: for example, the Persian tale of Layla and the emaciated Majnun, who pines for his lost love, is depicted on the panel at right (above the camel). Literary lovers were so popular that they could be portrayed without any corresponding text and thus adapted to nontextual formats such as furniture.

Gallery 329, Asian Art, third floor (Lahiri Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

Casket

Date:

Mid- 17th century

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian or Pakistani

Medium:

Wood and metal; interior decorated with paint and gold leaf

Dimensions:

11 1/8 × 18 3/8 × 11 1/4 inches (28.3 × 46.7 × 28.6 cm)

Classification:

Furniture/Furnishings

Credit Line:

Gift from the Samuel Yellin Collection in memory of Stella Kramrisch, 1993

Accession Number:

1993-134-1

Geography:

Made in Gujarat, India, Asia or made in Sindh, Pakistan, Asia

Context:

Dynasty: Mughal Dynasty (1526-1858)

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Gallery 329, Asian Art, third floor (Lahiri Gallery)

Main Building

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