Genre scenes of elegant courtly woman were popular in Golconda in the late 17th–early 18th century. For example, see related Golconda portraits in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2011.585), San Diego Museum of Art (1990.489), and the Cincinnati Art Museum (1991.139). In this painting, an elegantly attired princess is wrapping her golden turban while accompanied by a maidservant. She wears a matching scarf with brocade ends, a long transparent outer garment over a bodice and red-and-green striped pajamas, and red shoes. Her long hair is braided. She wears golden rings, bejeweled earrings, and several types of necklaces, including golden chokers, strands of pearls, and a green floral garland (mala). Her attendant wears similar garments and jewelry, with the addition of a hair ornament (jada billi) and cuff bracelets. She holds an honorific peacock feather fan (morchal), symbolic of royalty, and a blue-and-white ceramic wine flask (surahi), which is a common courtly attribute. The figures are placed against a descendent Mughal-style landscape with a plain blue sky and green groundline.
