Intoxicated Lady at a Window

late 18th century

The male patrons for Indian painting commissioned many images of lovesick women who suffer terribly while their lovers are away. This woman sits at a window, perhaps watching for the arrival of her beloved. The use of a window as framing device here is somewhat ironic, because window frames appear more often in official portraits of rulers. Here, instead of a proud prince we see a woman who has been assuaging her longings with either wine or opium: she leans awkwardly on one arm, her eyes tinged with pink, her eyelids drooping. The fact that she wears no blouse suggests that she is a courtesan, but her jewelry and the precious flask and cup suggest that she enjoys a high level of patronage. What might be a tawdry or pathetic scene is elevated by the high quality of painting and the sophisticated palette of muted blues and reds.