{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1263551"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1263551/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GB1050/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GB1050/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GB1050","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM5784","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1263551/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1263551","accessionNumber":"IM.139A-1921","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Saint Cecilia","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The Mughal emperors collected European paintings and engravings, many of which were brought to the court in the late 16th and early 17th century by successive Jesuit missions who travelled to Delhi, Agra and Lahore from Portuguese Goa. The artists employed by the emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) often copied these exotic works of art. This painting of the Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia is a close copy of an engraving by Jerome [Hieronymus] Wierix. The painting is ascribed to a female artist, Nini, whose work is otherwise unknown. It is mounted on a decorated page formerly bound in an album compiled for Shah Jahan. ","physicalDescription":"Painting, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, the martyrdom of Saint Cecilia. Saint Cecilia lies on the floor, expiring, in front of a female companion who reaches towards her neck. A second moves forward with a glass bowl of water and sponge. A putto at left flies towards her carrying a crown. The nimbate figure of Christ hovers in the clouds above.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Nini","id":"A12152"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"opaque watercolour","id":"x35013"},{"text":"paper","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Painted in opaque watercolour and gold on paper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Bonita Trust Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project","id":"THES263148"}],"styles":[{"text":"Mughal","id":"AAT18939"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2013GB1050","2006AM5784"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES403710"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"painting","id":"AAT33618"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mughal Empire","id":"THES262021"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"first half 17th century","earliest":"1600-01-01","latest":"1650-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Lady Wantage","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"13.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"painting","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"painting","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"38.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"page","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"page","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"'Work of [ie painted by] Nini'","transliteration":"'amal-e Nini'","type":"","note":"The Persian inscription giving the name of the artist is written in black ink in the border below the painting."},{"content":"Nandaram Pandit 1161 [?]","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"Nandaram Pandit 1161[=1748 AD]","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"This seal stamp in black ink appears to provide the name of an 18th century owner. The date seems to be 1161 of the Islamic era, corresponding to 1748 AD, but is slightly smudged."}],"objectHistory":"The painting is mounted on a page with decorated borders from an album made for the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.\r\n\r\nPart of the bequest of the Right Honourable Harriet Sarah Baroness Wantage, of Locking House, Wantage Berks, widow of the first and last Baron Wantage, V.C., K.C.B., V.D.\r\n\r\nR.P. 1920-8342, 1920-5869, 1921-3081, 1921-177","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting, Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, by Nini, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Mughal, first half 17th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Asok Kumar Das, Mughal Painting during Jahangir's Time, Calcutta 1979 pl. 68, p. 237.\r\nGauvin Alexander Bailey, 'Counter Reformation Symbolism and Allegory in Mughal Painting', unpublished doctoral thesis, Harvard, 1996, cat. 199.\r\nSusan Stronge, Painting for the Mughal Emperor. The art of the book 1560-1660, V&A Publications, 2002, pl. 70, p. 104.\r\nJorge Flores and Nuno Vassallo e Silva eds, Goa and the Great Mughal, Lisbon,2004, cat. 82 p. 225, illustrated p. 168.\r\nYael Rice, “Painters, Albums, and Pandits: Agents of Image Reproduction in Early Modern South Asia,” Ars Orientalis 51, 2022, fig. 1. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"Another version of this painting is in the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, City Palace, Jaipur (see Asok Kumar Das, Treasures of Indian Painting, Series Two, Plate IV).","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"The martyrdom of Saint Cecilia. Saint Cecilia lies on the floor, expiring, in front of a female companion who reaches towards her neck and while a second moves forward with a glass bowl of water and sponge. A putto at left flies towards her carrying a crown. The nimbate figure of Christ hovers in the clouds above.","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Cecilia (Saint)","id":"N2586"},{"text":"Jesus Christ","id":"N1515"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"martyr","id":"AAT188714"},{"text":"saint","id":"AAT150555"},{"text":"putto","id":"AAT250465"},{"text":"crown","id":"AAT46020"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Martyrdom","id":"x35248"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IM.139-1921"],"accessionNumberNum":"139","accessionNumberPrefix":"IM","accessionYear":1921,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-01","recordCreationDate":"2013-05-17","availableToBook":false}}