A prince drinks water drawn from a well by village maidens, Provincial Mughal / Awadh, circa 1770s

Carlton Rochell, New York.

Four young village girls offer a horse-mounted prince a drink of water from a gold flask at an oasis well. He is dressed for the hunt or for battle with a quiver-full of arrows dangling beside him. He gratefully drinks with his cupped hand near the edge of the large well - enclosed by a white marble superstructure.

The maidens stand at the well-top filling vessels using a wood pulley made from a forked

branch. Under a blossoming fruit tree against a green landscape rising to an arid plain with a turreted fortress in the distance. Dark clouds swirl at the top.