A COURTLY LADY ENTERTAINED BY FEMALE MUSICIANS
Possibly Awadhi School (Oudh) or Lucknow, Northern India, 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting a courtly lady wearing a long diaphanous purple lehenga, seated on a floral floor spread on a palatial terrace and listening to the performance of two female musicians, one playing the veena, the latter the santoor, her duenna holding a gold fan, green hills with trees in the background, the scene set within white and black rules, and gold-speckled dark blue and cream borders, 25.8cm x 20.6cm.