A TINTED DRAWING OF AN INDIAN NOBLEMAN
Possibly Bikaner, Rajasthan or Punjab Hills, Northern India, late 18th - early 19th century

Opaque pigments, ink and pencil on wove paper, the vertical composition portraying a young nobleman seated next to a rounded bolster, holding in one hand a flower and in the latter a small bottle, wearing a burgundy red turban, the verso plain, pasted onto a fragment of later laid paper, mounted on white cardboard, glazed and framed, 12.5cm x 8cm excluding the mount and frame.

For a similar Bikaner profile portrait carried out in the siyah kalam style (tinted drawing) and dating to the late 18th century, please see Christie’s New York, 21 March 2008, lot 705.