Pierced Window Screen (Jali) | Harvard Art Museums

Gallery Text

Pierced screens have been used in a variety of ways in South Asian architecture: as windows, railings, or room dividers. Although elaborate window dressings in stone and wood have long been components of indigenous Indian architecture, the intricately carved geometric patterning of the type seen here was introduced in the Islamic courts. This jali is made of a single slab of sandstone that was carefully drilled through to create a design of interlocking, four-pointed stars intersected by flowers. Light passing through the screen would cast its intricate pattern on the floor, creating a playful effect of light and shadow.

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1984.627
Title: Pierced Window Screen (Jali)
Classification: Architectural Elements
Work Type: architectural element
Date: c. 1580
Places: Creation Place: South Asia, India, Uttar Pradesh
Period: Mughal period
Culture: Indian
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/216213

Location

Location: Level 2, Room 2590, South Asian Art, South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras

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Physical Descriptions

Medium: Red sandstone
Technique: Carved
Dimensions: sight: 87 × 62 × 3.5 cm (34 1/4 × 24 7/16 × 1 3/8 in.)
52 lb.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History: [Spink & Son Ltd., London (by 1984)], sold; to Fogg Art Museum, 1984.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Director's Discretionary Fund and the Fund for the Acquisition of Islamic and Indian Art
Accession Year: 1984
Object Number: 1984.627
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Exhibition History

Recent Acquisitions , Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/15/1986 - 01/04/1987
Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/23/1989 - 01/17/1990
Arabesque, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/01/1990 - 03/24/1991
Five Masters of Persian and Indian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/11/1992 - 03/09/1992
An Imperial Vision. The Art of Mughal India, 1526-1658, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/17/1992 - 12/06/1992
Arts of Empire: Mughal India, 1526-1705, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/17/1992 - 12/13/1992
Pattern and Purpose. Decorative Arts of Islam., Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/19/1994 - 07/03/1994
Linear Graces ... and Disgraces: Part I, Drawings from the Courts of Persia, Turkey, and India, 15th-19th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/15/1994 - 12/11/1994
Linear Graces ... and Disgraces: Part II, Drawings from the Courts of Persia, Turkey, and India, 15th-19th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/26/1994 - 03/05/1995
Where Traditions Meet: Painting in India from the 15th-17th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/05/2003 - 12/07/2003
32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/17/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/28/2023 - 01/01/2050
Zarina: Atlas of Her World , Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, 09/06/2019 - 02/02/2020

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

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1984.627: Pierced Window Screen (Jali)