A nobleman entertained in his harem
Provincial Mughal, perhaps Amber, circa 1610gouache and gold on paper, laid down on an album page with inner margins ruled in colours and gold, outer borders sprinkled with gold on a cream ground
painting 197 x 108 mm.; page 274 x 178 mm.注脚Provenance
Formerly with the Shiv Kumar Chirimar Collection, Amsterdam.

Exhibited
Joachim Bautze, Indian Miniature Paintings: c. 1590–c. 1850, Galerie Saundarya Lahari, Amsterdam, 1987, pp. 19-20, cat. no. 5.

The present painting is reminiscent of a miniature of which an engraving was already published in Amsterdam in 1726 in the chapter 'Levens des Groote Mogols', Volume IV, Book 2 of F. Valentyn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, with the following interpretation 'Mier Sumla, Nabab, of Valdheer van AURANG-ZEB, in zyn vrouwen-Timmer, met zyne Vrouwen zig vermaakende'. It seems perhaps unlikely that Mir Jumla, the famous general of Aurangzeb, would have allowed such a painting to be done.