A nobleman smoking a hookah on a terrace with attendants, India, Mughal or Deccan, 18th century

gouache with gold on paper, narrow buff borders

The nobleman depicted here bears a resemblance to several Deccani rulers and senior courtiers of the late eighteeth century. The spherical huqqa base depicted here can clearly be recognised as a Bidri ware type inlaid with brass similar to late seventeenth and early eighteenth century examples published in M. Zebrowski, Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1997, pp.233, 234, 237, figs.383, 386, 389, 396 and 397.