MUGHAL INDIA, MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

This night scene brings together two popular subjects in Mughal painting, a lady carrying diyas (oil candles) and a seated dervish on a tiger skin. The ascetic clutching his prayer beads, head downturned in contemplation, presents a depiction of religious devotion. This is further compounded by his sitting on a tiger skin which "symbolizes the conquest of the lower self through spiritual discipline" (Andrew Topsfield, Paintings from Mughal India, Oxford, 2008, p.140). In contrast to the somewhat muted colours used for the dervish, with his black prayer beads and simple crutches, the lady is richly illuminated in gold and adorned with jewellery. The colours are warm and radiant, contrasting against the nightscape, even the tray she carries suggests lavish wealth.

A further painting with the figure of a lady carrying diyas at night can be found in the British Museum (1920,0917,0.12.27). Another was sold through the Doris Wiener Gallery, New York, September 30 1969. The latter provides a particularly relevant comparison for the use of the gold illumination in contrast to the muted grey shrine and dark night sky.