BY BIHARI, INDIA, BIKANER, IN GOLCONDA STYLE, CIRCA 1700

The style of this painting is closely related to that of Golconda originals of the late 17th century. A very similar painting of two ladies with a bottle and cup, dated to circa 1680, is in the Chester Beatty Library (Linda York Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, Vol. II, p. 916). A well-known further example of a single lady, provocatively posed, formerly in the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, is now in the collection of Dr Daniel Vasella (Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar, Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2015, no.147, pp.252-3). These comparisons indicate that the inscription on the reverse was probably added later and that the date was an estimation. All the Golconda examples depict standing ladies elegantly dressed, their bodies elegantly curved, with narrow waist and heavy jewellery. The colouring is soft, not at all the thick opaque colours of most paintings. The style is very similar to that of Rahim Deccani (Haidar and Sardar, op.cit., nos.143-146, pp.249-251). The present painting must have been very close to the original that it copied; it captures the subtle shading and mischievous expression of the ladies perfectly. The very thin completely diaphanous shawl of the original has however been misunderstood in our painting. In the originals it clings to the body, clearly revealing the shapes underneath, while here it stands up above the shoulder of each lady as if it has been starched. Dress in Muslim Golconda appears to have been considerably more acceptably provocative than in Hindu Bikaner.