The expectant groom, India, Deccan, Golconda, circa 1650-75

gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on an album page, reverse with a Persian quatrain within cloud bands against a gold ground

In reasonably good overall condition, minor stains, colours generally good, losses to outer margins, reverse stained, as viewed.
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This charming and slightly enigmatic drawing most likely originates from Golconda at the end of the seventeenth century, before it fell to Aurangzeb and Mughal influence. The meaning behind the situation depicted is not clear. The horse awaits a rider but has no saddle and we are shown only its front half. Who is the richly dressed young man who waits like a servant but is clearly of a high or royal status? The garden is set within a courtyard with a high wall at the back that extends up under the picture, giving a sense of claustrophobia. This might be explained however, if it were a fragment of a larger drawing. 

Several details of the men's costume are classic features of Golconda painting. These include the types of turban, the striped paijama and the shawl draped elegantly around the aristocrat's shoulders. These details emulate royal Golconda costume, as seen in portraits of ‘Abdallah Qutb Shah and Abu’l Hasan (Zebrowski 1983, figs.150, 156). The shallow picture space and the enigmatic young aristocrat are somewhat reminiscent of the work of Rahim Deccani, who produced a number of aristocratic portraits including those on a papier-maché jewel box, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, in the last quarter of the seventeenth century (ibid, figs.169-176).