India, Pahari Region, probably Nurpur or Bilaspur, mid-18th century

Compare the stylistic rendering of Durga and the demon with a Nurpur painting of the same subject at the Detroit Institute of Arts (see WG Archer, Indian Painting from the Punjab Hills, London and New York, 1973, vol.1, p.396, vol.2, p.311, fig.18). Both compositions show a flat plan of color in the background with a band of white an blue sky at the very top. The long, rounded shapes of the pink clouds in the present work echo those of the rock formation in the Detroit example.