PRINCESS ON CAMEL-ZOOMOROHIC PAINTING

OPAQUE WATERCOLOR ON PAPER

PERSON SCHOOL

LATE 18th CENTURY

6.5"x11.25"

DESCRIPTION: A manuscript painting of a princess riding in a howdah on a composite
camel in a rather bleak landscape being attended by raja on horseback. The
camel is composed of numerous animals and integrated persons. The camel is richly
caparison and carries anklets on the front legs and neck band. The intended meaning
of composite pictures in Idianian and Persian art remains obscure. Some of the
antecedents of the practice are cited by Welch where he traces the practice back to China
in the preclassical period. This picture may be generaly interpreted as an expression of the
philosophical conecpt of all creatures and things made of smaller elements, in the Islamic
context they seem to have a more specifically Sufi attraction based on the Sufi idea of
multiplicity and unity. In this example the religious building in the background adds an extra
and tantalizing element.