A PORTRAIT OF AN ENTHRONED MUGHAL QUEEN
Possibly Delhi school, Northern India, circa 1880 - 1920

Opaque pigments and gold on thick paper, the vertical composition depicting a regal female sitter, possibly a Mughal Queen, seated on a gem-studded golden throne with several animals on the backrest including ibexes, elephants, and cheetahs, wearing a heavily bejewelled headdress with two black heron's feathers as aigrettes, portrayed on a floral Mughal floorspread on a courtly terrace, in the background a river scene, set within a Mughal-revival decorative border with golden vegetal motifs, polychrome-painted partridges and small floral buds, the back with several later-added inscriptions in black and blue ink in nasta'liq script reading 'the King who fights for Islam', 'in the name of... the Palace of Bakh...wife', 46.7cm x 34cm.