Two Mughal Ladies from The Singer on the Balcony.

Currently diving into the online holdings of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford - which, for some reason, presents everything very dark.

Today's look is into The singer on the balcony. Illustration of Baharistan, by Jami. Emperor Akbar, as I've previously mentioned on this website, commissioned many great works of literature to be illuminated by artists in his court. Of those, the works of the poet Jami (1414-1492) are depicted in the collected folio Baharistan by Jami.

This illumination appears in the online book, Mughal Miniatures of the Earlier Period, from the Bodleian Library's collection. It's a free download, but sadly it's a black and white text with black and white panels that do not quite capture the beauty of the images.

I have had no luck finding the associated story.

The image is rather dark on the Bodleian site, so I've utilized a program to lighten it. That's much clearer.

From this image, I'm particularly inspecting two hat-wearing women. The lady at the top is playing what appears to be a Kurdish rubab with a curved bow. On the side of her taqi, there appears to be either a feather inserted in the side (which would be rather unusual) or a seam. The seam would indicate that the frame of the taqui is wrapped with fabric - I've been incorporating the finished edge of the material I've been using on some of the taqis I've recently made. It provides a much cleaner finish than the straight up-and-down seam. Unfortunately, since I sent all of those hats to Pennsic to sell, I don't have one to shoot at the moment.

The lower lady in the image is of greater interest to me. Because of the small size and low resolution in the download, it's hard to view this clearly. But it certainly looks as if this lady is wearing both an underveil and an overveil on her taqi. Note the sweep of fabric under her chin and how it rolls up into the top of the hat. Now note the layer over that, which progresses down her back. I'm pretty certain this is a use of two veils, one taqi.