A court beauty

Gouache with gold and silver on cotton cloth.

This flamboyant picture of an idealised heroine is an enhanced version of the languorous female figures often found in Rajput palace mural decoration. It can be attributed to Chokha, the son of Bakhta (his painting Rawat Gokul Das at the Singh Sagar is also featured below [LI118.80]), who worked both at Udaipur and the minor court of Deogarh during the first quarter of the 19th century. His idiosyncratic works are full of brio and eclectic invention.

To view a high-resolution version of this image and for further information please visit the Yousef Jameel Online Centre at the Ashmolean.