A prince receiving water from village girls at a well, India, Awadh, circa 1760-70

gouache with gold on paper

Generally good condition Some small areas of discoloration or abrasion. As viewed.
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The scene of a prince on horseback receiving water from maidens at a village well was a popular one in eighteenth-century Mughal painting. Falk notes in relation to two comparable works that the scene may derive from more than one literary source: a poem by Muhammad Akram written in 1658 that tells the story of two lovers named Shahid and Wafa, and the story of Mohana Rani and Chel Batao, the latter suggested by Coomaraswamy (see Falk and Archer 1981, no.195, pp.122-3; Falk in Colnaghi, Paintings from Mughal India, London, 1979, no.26, pp.56-7; Coomaraswamy 1930, no.CXVI, pl.LI).

The use of gold to highlight so much of the landscape, as well as the details of the costumes and jewellery, enlivens the surface and creates a splendidly glittering composition. The scene is executed with great skill and the human figures and the horse are skillfully rendered. The background is full of charming vignettes of village and rural life.