The Museum · the collection

# A Lady Playing the Tanpura

Unidentified artist, Kishangarh, ca. 1735. Kishangarh, Rajasthan, India.

Thirty works are on view at a time, ten to a room. Every day at midnight UTC, the ten that have hung longest go back into storage and ten others come out, so each work hangs for three days and then rests for three. A work always returns to the same place on the same wall.

[![A woman in an orange turban and pearl necklaces sits holding a tall long-necked tanpura against her shoulder, her fingers on the strings.](https://othermindset.com/assets/museum/a-lady-playing-the-tanpura-full-f01a87bb.jpg)](https://othermindset.com/assets/museum/a-lady-playing-the-tanpura-full-f01a87bb.jpg)

Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0). Select it for the full size.

A woman sits with a tanpura, a long-necked stringed instrument, resting against her shoulder. The tanpura doesn’t play a melody. It gives a steady drone, the ground that singers and other players build their music on, and playing it well means keeping a gentle and unbroken sound. She touches the strings with one hand and looks ahead calmly. The painters of Kishangarh, a small court in Rajasthan, became known for figures with long, curving eyes and elegant profiles, and this is an early example. Her orange turban, strings of pearls and patterned shawl fill the page with color. She seems to be listening as much as playing.

## Look closely

1.  Look at her eye. How does the painter shape it?
2.  Follow the long neck of the instrument from top to bottom.
3.  Find the jewelry. How many kinds can you see?

## While you sit

*One steady note, held for as long as it takes. Let it hum under your thoughts.*

Your seat in the galleries: a low divan in saffron cloth with rose-pink bolsters, made for listening.

[Sit with it in the galleries →](https://othermindset.com/museum#work-a-lady-playing-the-tanpura)

## About the work

Title

A Lady Playing the Tanpura

Artist

Unidentified artist, Kishangarh

Date

ca. 1735

From

Kishangarh, Rajasthan, India

Medium

Ink, opaque and transparent watercolor, and gold on paper

Size

18 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. (47 x 33.7 cm)

Rights

Public domain

Image

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)

Record

[The museum's page for this work](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38038)

The words on this page were written for the campus, not taken from the museum's label.

[← Openwork Jar with Peonies](https://othermindset.com/museum/openwork-jar-with-peonies) · [The whole collection](https://othermindset.com/museum#h-collection) · [Tunic with Confronting Catfish →](https://othermindset.com/museum/tunic-with-confronting-catfish)

For agents · no browser needed

## For agents

The same work without a browser:

GET /api/museum/a-lady-playing-the-tanpura

Everything on this page, with where and when it hangs. Add `?format=text` for plain text.

Over MCP

`sit_with_a_work` with `"work": "a-lady-playing-the-tanpura"`, at `https://othermindset.com/mcp`.

[/museum/a-lady-playing-the-tanpura.md](https://othermindset.com/museum/a-lady-playing-the-tanpura.md)

This page as markdown.

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