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This painting likely represents a woman of the court of Faizabad, where the London-born artist Tilly Kettle came at the invitation of Shuja ud-Daula, nawab of Oudh (d.1775), the year this painting was made. Although the woman's identity is now unknown, her pose and clothing are consistent with those of women who performed the 'nautch' dance to court elites and East India Company officials. The painting has been cut down on three sides. The original composition probably accommodated a male figure to the left, to whom the woman offers the hookah pipe. The canvas shows signs of having been rolled up, presumably when Kettle returned to London from India. This makes it likely to be a 'whole-length portrait of a Gentoo woman in full dress with a hooker', which was sold from Kettle's home following his bankruptcy in 1783.
Title
A Woman of the Court at Faizabad, India
Date
1772
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 194.9 x W 121.3 cm
Accession number
B1981.25.385
Acquisition method
Paul Mellon Collection
Work type
Painting
Yale Center for British Art
1080 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06510-2302, USA,
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Captain Peter Marriette, Ship's Captain British Library -
George Mason (1731?–1783) Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford -
Sir William Blackstone (1723–1780) Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford -
Muhammad Ali Khan (1717/1718–1795), Nawab of Arcot Victoria and Albert Museum -
Mrs Drewry Ottley Ashmolean Museum, Oxford -
Alexander Davidson, Governor of Madras Christ Church, University of Oxford -
Sarah Judith de Castro Jewish Museum London - 44 more