THE GODDESS DURGA DEFEATING THE BUFFALO DEMON MAHISHA
Bengal, Eastern India, circa 1880 - 1920

Opaque pigments heightened with gold and silver on paper pasted on later cardboard, the vertical composition depicting the ten-armed Hindu Goddess Durga standing with one foot on her white lion, piercing her spear straight through the chest of the Buffalo Demon Mahisha (Mahishasuramardini), each arm of the Goddess holding a weapon from her classical armoury, the lion attacking the demon as well, the recto plain, 28.6cm x 22.5cm.

For a very similar example from the same Bengal school, please see Christie's London, 23 April 2012, lot 332.