Unknown painter, Murshidabad (Bengal)

Seduction Scene on a Terrace by Moonlight is a Mughal miniature painting from South Asia, made in the eighteenth century by a painter whose name is not known. It is possibly from Murshidabad, in West Bengal.

It is painted in opaque watercolor with gold on paper. As the title says, it shows a seduction scene on a terrace at night, lit by the moon.

The painted image measures 16.8 by 23.5 centimeters (6 5/8 by 9 1/4 inches). The outermost border measures 26.7 by 40.1 centimeters (10 1/2 by 15 3/4 inches), and the whole sheet of paper 29 by 42.2 centimeters (11 3/8 by 16 5/8 inches). The painting is part of the Everett and Ann McNear Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago (accession number 1983.634) and belongs to the museum’s Arts of Asia department.