MUGHAL SCHOOL, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1730-40

This intimate depiction is rendered on a far larger scale than is normally encountered in Mughal panton. It is very clear that the central figure is being prepared for the bedchamber, being offered a small cup of wine, her other hand being massaged. But the artist has taken great care that neither attendant obscures the central figure as she exchanges a knowing look with one of her attendants. One wonders whether this is the preamble before Chitarman’s famous depiction of Muhammad Shah making love, now in the British Library (Barbara Schmitz (ed.), After the Great Mughals, Painting in Delhi and the Regional Courts in the 18th and 19th centuries, Mumbai, 2002, pl.7, p.21).
The seal on the reverse is struck twice, once over-inked, the other time under-inked. What can be read reads ……tfi Quli Khan Bahadur and the date [11]13, or [1]13[0] which equate to 1701-2 AD or 1717-18 AD.