Princess Seated on a Terrace

Mughal, Delhi, circa 1740
Ink, opaque watercolour, gold and tin on paper
28cm high, 20cm wide (47.5cm high, 39.5cm wide framed)
Stock no.: A4322

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The princess or courtesan leans against a green bolster and is seated on a carpet placed on a marble terrace. A lotus pond, a feature seen first in non-Mughal artistic traditions, spans the bottom of the composition. Behind the marble balustrade the tops of blossoming trees are seen. The whole is backed by a pale blue sky. The woman kneels with one leg crossed under a purple pillow which contrasts nicely with the pale yellow garment and the green bolster. She holds a handkerchief in her lowered left hand and an orange flower in her upraised right hand. Her long hair creates a bold vertical accent to the understated, muted palette of the whole.
The miniature is surrounded by a number of borders: flesh coloured, blue and rust coloured, each decorated in gold floral patterns and then finished by a thin, bright orange band. Most likely it was once a part of a muraqqa‘ (album) and would have faced a similar portrait with identical borders.

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