A STANDING PORTRAIT OF AN INDIAN MAIDEN GOING TO PERFORM PUJA
Possibly Delhi, Mughal Northern India, ca. 1700 - 1720

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical portrait depicting an Indian maiden standing against a plain greenish-blue background, wearing a diaphanous pink choli top and ochre yellow saree with red borders, holding a golden ceremonial water ewer in her left hand, and a small circular container in the right hand, possibly filled with offerings of various nature, her ankles, wrists and neck adorned with several typical Indian bejewelled accessories including gold bangles, multiple strings of pearl necklaces, encrusted anklets and earrings, a golden forehead medallion, and large pearl nosering, the portrait set within black and gold rules, laid on buff card with concentric red and cream borders, the reverse plain, 18cm x 13.5cm.

Another Mughal portrait presenting the same subject and pictorial style was successfully sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2022, lot 269. It was once part of Colonel Gayer-Anderson's collection of Indian paintings. A number of pieces of the now-dispersed Thomas Gayer-Anderson's collection were donated to different international institutions in the 1950s, including the National Gallery of Australia, museums in Cairo, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and some eventually entered the public art market through auctions and dealers. Although the present painting is not accompanied by any nomenclature, stamps, or identifying inscriptions usually encountered on the other paintings of this collection, the similarity in terms of subject, style, and characterisation is undeniably strong.