A NAYIKA PERFORMING A SURYA PUJA
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Lucknow or Faizabad, Mughal India, ca. 1760s - 1780s

Opaque pigments, ink and pencil heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting a nayika (heroine) in the wilderness performing a pray to the sun (surya puja), in front of her a golden tray with offerings and blessed water ewer, the cloudy sky above her clearing up and rays of sunshine appearing to the right, on the left a solitary tree bending over the nayika in an almost sheltering mode, pasted onto layers of later, wove paper, the recto plain, the panel 15.8cm x 9cm, the folio 29.3cm x 20.4cm.

For a very similar style of tinted drawing attributed to the Faizabad school, please see Chiswick Auctions, 25 October 2019, lot 367.