ALWAR OR DELHI, INDIA, CIRCA 1820-30

This alluring and richly detailed composition relates closely to lots 13-15. In those the young woman is adorning herself after bathing, while here she is fully bedecked in her rich jewellery. Her hair, which was loose in lot 14 is now tied back tightly, and she is relaxing with a huqqa and her cat, perhaps awaiting the arrival of her lover. It relates particularly closely to lot 14, where there are close similarities in the figure, the diaphanous shawl and the interior, particularly the glass door and the European clock. The present scene could be seen as a thematic sequel to lot 14. Similar profiles of women are found in group scenes of nautch girls painted in Delhi in the early 19^th century, especially one in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.9-1955), which shows a nautch performance in an interior with similar furnishing and architecture to the present work. Other related scenes of courtesans reclining in similar poses include lot 17 in this sale, as well as examples in the Harvard Art Museums (1995.137), San Diego Museum of Art (1990.923) and two attributed to Alwar illustrated in Brugière and Bor 2003, figs.77, 79, pp.140-1, in the Alwar Museum. A further example sold in these Rooms 5 May 1977, lot 87. Like the present example, one of those in the Alwar Museum includes a small cat. This has led some commentators to informally dub the artist the “cat master”.