A PORTRAIT OF A LADY Provincial Mughal School, Northern India, 19th century Opaque pigments on paper, an elegant lady in profile kneeling against a cushion by a book-rest and a dish of fruit, the unusual headdress with an aigrette, dark clouds above, laid on blue and gold-speckled paper, within gold, blue and red rules on pale pink paper, inscribed Massih (Messiah) in Persian, with a Russian stamp, 19cm x 13cm excluding the frame; the verso with a quatrain in sabk-e hindi, in black ink Persian nasta'liqon paper, the text within gold clouds and interlinear polychrome illumination, laid on pink paper within a border of gilt blue paper, 21 cm x 13 cm excluding the frame.