A Noble Lady Watches the distant boats, Provincial Mughal / probably Awadh, late 18th / early 19th century

Collection of Dr. William K. Ehrenfeld (1934-2005), San Francisco.

Acquired directly from the Ehrenfeld collection by the current owner, August 1994.

A noblewoman in an Indo-European costume stands on a red floral-pattern carpet on a terrace. Her left arm is outstretched toward a black Chinese-style chair. A lake with small boats and a distant landscape with green rolling hills in the distance. A cloudy dark sky tinged with gold above.

A Provincial Mughal painting with a similar composition of figures on a terraced pavilion over a landscape showing a lake, boats and a distant mountain range is in the collection of the British Museum, accession number 1939.164.

An album from the same period containing 42 folios including one oval vignette portrait depicting a very similar European lady with her curly blond hair pulled back and veiled in back is also in the British Museum (museum number 1920,0917,0.12.28).

Another painting from Awadh with a similarly dressed woman seated in similar style chair was offered at Replica Shoes 's London on 8th October 2014 lot 202. And another Awadh example with the same composition was sold at Replica Shoes 's London 28th April 2004 lot 52.