PROBABLY GOLCONDA, DECCAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1700

This painting likely formed part of an album created for a Dutch merchant or official to the Deccan, where the VOC had established a permanent presence (in Golconda) from the 1630s. Likely produced as sets on commission for the European patrons, the painting is nearly identical to another of the same scene now in the Free Library of Philadelphia (Lewis M 203) and would have belonged to a larger album similar to that owned by the eighteenth century VOC official Adrianus Canter Visscher which is now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (NG-2008-60-1 to NG-2008-60-28). The Visscher album is notable for its variety of scenes including both single and group portraits whereby these albums more typically appear to include solely single figure studies. Examples include the Witsen Album, also in the Rijksmuseum (RP-T-00-3186), an album of unknown owner in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Estampes, Od 32 and Od 61) and the 'Mongolsche Keysers' album likely commissioned by Cornelius le Bruyn (portraits from which were sold in these Rooms, 1 May 2025, lots 64 and 65; and 27 October 2023, lot 65 and 66).