A Heroine Plucking a Flower: Page from a Dispersed Nayikabheda

1660-01-01T00:00:00Z

The artist instilled this painting with an iconography of longing: the empty bed, the solitary nayika (heroine), and the forlorn call of the peacock. The patterned raindrops, stylized creepers, and surface treatment of the architecture distinguish this manuscript from other work done in the Malwa courts. The figural type suggests an awareness of the Mewar or Bundi traditions; the use of a black sky and a red color field behind are typical of the archaic tastes of Malwa production, which survived into the late seventeenth century.