Woman smoking huqqa, India, Deccan, late 18th - early 19th century Gouache and gold on paper depicting a woman seated three-quarters on a white throne, smoking a huqqa placed on a pedestal table in front of her. Her torso is bare and she is richly adorned with jewelry. Beside her seat are a ewer and a basin. The scene takes place in a landscape, under a tree animated by birds, others in flight in the background. Mounted on an album page with a gilded scroll border and gold-flecked margin. On the reverse, a Persian quatrain nast'aliq obliquely inscribed in black ink on a gold-painted background of floral scrolls animated by a feline and a simurgh. Two blue and salmon borders and the same margin speckled with gold frame the whole. Page size: 32.8 x 26.2 cm; painting size: 16.2 x 10.8 cm; calligraphy size: 12.6 x 5.6 cm Some wear to the polychromy, stains, small folds and slight accidents to the calligraphy. Provenance : Ader Picard Tajan sale, Paris, May 11, 1982, lot 39.