A lady with a wine flask and cup - 18th century.
Opaque watercolour and gold on paper.

The painting shows a standing lady in profile facing left holding out a blue and white flask as if ready to pour the contents into the small white cup she holds in her right hand. The lady is shown standing on a plain dark green band which rises behind her in a slightly lighter shade of green to a notional dark blue sky above at the top.

The lady is wearing a transparent skirt with gold edgings over orange paijama patterned with a half-drop leafy motif in gold and green with a row of pearls at the ankles. A transparent pinkish odhani with a gold dotted design and edging is draped over her upper body, long loose hair and falls down the back of her skirt. Beneath this her breasts are visible between which there are two rows of gold-tipped short lappets with a yellow infill between over which falls a long pearl necklace and other jewelled and pearl pendants and chokers. Further jewellery is seen on her fingers upper arms, ear, nose and forehead. She is wearing gold slippers with crimson and green floral scrolling.

The original painting has been extended on all four sides and the background overpainted to blend in with it. Some of the green paint extends over the undecorated strips of pinky-brown paper which are collaged round the painting and overlap the navy-blue inner border with gold stylised floral scrolling, which has an frame of gold, white and black outlines within an outer dark blue outline. The main border has an ivory-coloured ground with a design of alternate red poppies and pink lilies picked out in gold. Strips of buff-coloured paper have been collaged at the edges of the page. A white and gold line, now in poor condition, have been added to the inner edges. A pale-brown paper strip has also been added on the left hand side of the page as a gutter for the album binding.

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