A BALCONY SCENE: A RULER SMOKING A HUQQA WITH HIS COMPANION
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE GERMAN COLLECTION
Possibly Jaipur or Bikaner, Rajasthan, North-Western India, 18th - early 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting a ruler seated on a golden high chair encrusted with gemstones smoking a huqqa in the company of a lavishly dressed and heavily bejewelled lady, possibly his spouse, smelling a white flower blossom, a female attendant bearing a tray with lidded pandan boxes, behind the ruler an entrusted male attendant wearing a diaphanous muslin shalwaar kamiz over white pajama trousers, the palatial interior typical of the Rajasthani region, a line of black ink nasta'liq Persian script with date at the top of the composition, set within yellow, black and white rules and dark red borders, mounted, glazed and framed, 34.5cm x 23cm excluding the frame.

Inscription: Everyone shows up with a letter on the Day of Judgment / I will instead appear with the image of the Beloved in my arms. The year 1261 AH (1845).