India. Ink, gouache, and gold on paper. Laid down on an album page, within three narrow borders bearing gilt scrolling vines, further enclosed within wide margins with foliate design and flanked by calligraphic cartouches in shikaste script on each side. Depicting a woman standing on a low raised dais, draped in diaphanous garments revealing her breasts, necklaces, and jewel-set gold cuffs. She runs her hands through her long hair as she looks above in deep thought.

Inscriptions: The painting inscribed to the top-right corner, 'Chittir'.

Condition: Good condition with wear and browning of paper. Some creases, stains, and losses. The frame with wear and age, the glass cracked to one corner.
Provenance: Collection of Robert and Isabelle de Strycker, and thence by decent in the same family. Robert de Strycker (1903-1968) was a French engineer who specialized in metallurgy. He was a Stanford graduate, a professor at the University of Leuven, a director of the Institute of Metallurgy at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, and one of the most influential members of the faculty of applied sciences. After World War II, he made large contributions to France's post-war recovery. Robert and his wife Isabelle (1915-2010) first encountered Chinese art at the British Museum during a stay in London in the 1930s. Enamored with the style and beauty, they both decided to study and collect Chinese works of art. In 1938 they eventually began to build their collection, buying from Belgian, Parisian, and English dealers. They kept close contact with the famous English collector Sir Harry Garner (1891-1977) and noted Czech collector and expert Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976). In 1964, the couple lent 174 objects from their collection to the Belgian city of Leuven's museum for an exhibition titled Oude kunst in Leuvens Privebezit ('Old Art in Private Collections in Leuven'), and in 1967 they lent around thirty Japanese objects to the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels for their exhibition Kunst van Japan im belgischen Privatverzameingen ('Japanese Art in Belgian Private Collections').

Dimensions: Sheet size 39 x 22 cm, size incl. frame 43 x 26.7 cm

Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related painting of a lady standing on a low footstool, attributed to Mutassim, dated c. 1720-1740, sold at Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets, 30 March 2022, London, lot 52 (sold for GBP 7,560).