Soldier on horseback guarding palace grounds, miniature painting on card, Pahari school with European influence [Northern India, c. 1840]

Soldier on horseback guarding palace grounds, miniature painting on card, Pahari school with European influence [Northern India, c. 1840]

single leaf, depicting a soldier riding through palace grounds in the foreground with a landscape of a lake, palace and hills in the background, framed in red with white ruling, small worm-hole to right-hand edge of painting only slightly affecting image, some small staining and scuffs to paint, overall presentable condition, reverse blank, 145 by 198 mm.; in modern card mount

A rare composition for Indian miniature painting with its emphasis on the vast lake and palace seen in the distance, and with its true subject presented in a very small scale in the foreground. This may well show the influence of Western landscape painting on the artist.