Heroine with Peacock

This alluring and voluptuous woman represents a nayika, or a woman in love, a common theme in medieval Indian literature and seventeenth and eighteenth century manuscript painting. The peacock she holds on her lap is a trope from Indian painting, a metaphor for the longing she feels for her absent lover. Her fancy white dotted sari, with a red and blue border, slips down to reveal her full breasts, a pose doubtlessly intended to titillate the viewer.

Credit: Gift of Rhodes Robertson