Nobleman smoking on a terrace
North India, c. 1670

A Mughal nobleman, possibly an officer serving with Aurangzeb’s armies in the Deccan, sits drinking from a porcelain wine-cup, while a youth in a flowered robe holds the hookah steady for him. Further youthful attendants stand at either side. From the refined naturalism of his style and subtly heightened palette, the artist Ali Reza seems to have been among the Mughal-trained painters who later sought work in the Deccan.

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