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A House Burgled at Night

c. 1700
Gum tempera and gold on paper

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

In this night scene a band of robbers have climbed over the walls of a Mughal house and, from a courtyard, are successfully carrying out the possessions of its owners while a lady flees through the door. The speed of her movement is expressed in the swinging motion of her diaphanous skirt and the scarf clutched in her hand, as well as by the shoes abandoned on the ground in her haste. This depiction of unruly behavior and its effects are perhaps an expression of the violent succession of emperors that threw the Mughal court into distress at the beginning of the 18th century.

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