AN INDIAN MINIATURE PAINTING OF A RULER SMOKING A HUQQA
India, 19th century. Gouache and ink on paper. The prince seated on a large cushion on a palace terrace with a tree in the background, richly adorned with pearls and jewelry, wearing a finely decorated festive attire and a headdress, smoking a waterpipe, his attendant behind him holding a flywhisk, all within a black-ruled pink border.

Condition: Good condition with some wear, soiling, staining, and warping, few minuscule losses, small tears with associated touchups. Some woodworm holes to the backside that do not trespass to the front.
Provenance: Danish private collection.

Dimensions: Sheet size 25 x 20 cm

The hookah was invented by Abul-Fath Gilani, a Persian physician of Akbar, during Mughal India. It spread from the Indian subcontinent to Persia, where the mechanism was modified to its current shape. Despite tobacco and drug use being considered a taboo when the hookah was first conceived, its use became increasingly popular among nobility.

Auction result comparison: Compare a related Indian miniature painting of Nawab Darab Khan smoking a huqqa, dated circa 1700, at Bonhams New York in Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art on 17 March 2014, lot 105, sold for USD 17,500.