AN INDIAN EROTIC SCENE

Lovemaking in the Palace at Night

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on wove paper, the vertical composition depicting an intimate scene between a Rajput prince and one of his courtesans, both heavily bejewelled and adorned indicating their high-class status, in front of them a golden tray with meetha paan suggesting a night of intoxication and amusement, set within red, white and yellow rules, and dark blue borders, at the top of the composition an inscription in white ink Devanagari script reading Kra. 13 Piddh Rimevasa (?), the recto with a similar inscription in red ink, inventory numbers and the note Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesh) written in pencil, mounted on a light blue cardboard frame, the folio 24.5cm x 16.5cm, possibly Devgarh, Rajasthan, North-Western India, early 19th century