Page 159 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019
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A lady is seated outside a white pavilion on a moonlit terrace W.G. Archer in Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, 1973,
accompanied by her attendants. She gazes at the moon, Vol.I, Guler, p.155, 31, 32 (i), and illustrated in Vol.II, p.106.
deep in thoughts of her lover, oblivious to the wine cup being
ofered to her. This painting is closely related to eighteenth The treatment of the landscape and the introduction of aerial
century Mughal terrace scenes which usually depict women perspective, as seen in the background, was a relatively new
of the court engaged in leisurely activities accompanied by development in Pahari painting of this period which followed
musicians and female attendants. It also fnds comparison Nainsukh’s travels to the plains and to eastern India. The
with two other terrace scenes from Guler dating from the landscape in the present painting is comparable to another
same period, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in Guler painting dated circa 1760 with a lady smoking a huqqa
London (acc. nos. I.S.133-1949, I.M.72-1912), illustrated by on a terrace, illustrated by W.G. Archer, op. cit., Vol.I, Guler
p.157, 40, and illustrated in Vol.II, p.110.
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