A Woman in an Interior

In this conventional rendering of a courtly night scene, a balcony or terrace window affords a vista into the private interior world of a woman of the court, shown seated on a carpet and wrapped in a shawl against the cold, perhaps anticipating a visit from her lover. The rattan blind of the open doorway behind is rolled up, permitting a view of the bedchamber within and evoking the poignancy of unrequited love, a favorite subject in later Pahari painting. The sense of melancholy is heightened by the unusual use of cast shadows, a pictorial device borrowed from European imagery. Here the covered candle at lower left serves as the improbable light source for the dramatic shadows of the two women on the interior wall.