A PADMINI NAYIKA WITH A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Guler, Pahari Hills, Northern India, early 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting a pink-clad Padmini Nayika (Lotus Lady) in a garden picking flowers, in her hand a bouquet of red flowers, possibly carnations or poppies, hovering over her a flower-less tree with young new leaves, in front of her a bush of budding roses, the attendant behind the nayika bearing a golden tray with an encrusted casket and a similar fly-whisk symbolising abundance and wealth, the composition a hymn to spring, fertility and renewal, set within a floral border on dark blue ground, and a red-speckled pink border, the recto plain with later annotations and stamps, 26cm x 19cm.

For a similar painting attributed to the same school and period, please see Sotheby's London, 8 October 2014, lot 261.