A Bejewelled Maiden with a Parakeet

This young beauty seen through a cusped arch has been idealized as the daughter of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The convention of a woman holding a parakeet is seen in Deccan painting and textiles and is also known from a long standing tradition in Indian sculpture; here the prominent use of gold is typical of Deccan taste. The bird sits on the maiden’s henna-reddened fingers, each one of which is separately adorned by a diamond ring.

Credit: Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 2011