PROBABLY FAIZABAD OR MURSHIDABAD, INDIA, CIRCA 1780

The composition of this scene is closely related to a depiction of Colonel Polier watching a Nautch attributed to Mihr Chand, Faizabad, circa 1773-74, (India’s Fabled City, The Art of Courtly Lucknow, Exhibition Catalogue, Los Angeles, 2010, fig. 26, p. 180). The rounded outlines of the facial features with their soft outlines and restrained colour palette is also similar to a portrait of Gurgin Khan smoking a waterpipe attributed to Dip Chand at Murshidabad in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, (inv. D.1180-1903, Arts of Bengal, Exhibition Catalogue, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1979, no. 87, p.48).