A Courtesan and Her Lover Estranged by a Quarrel, from a Rasamanjari series

Two women sit in a pavilion with a red back wall, one leaning towards the other as if to talk her round. Outside a narrow doorway, separated from them by a tall white column, a man stands alone with a weapon over his shoulder. The picture is built from flat blocks of colour, mustard, red and white, the strong palette of the Basohli manner.

The title tells the story: a quarrel, and a lover shut out.

The Met’s series is dated 1694–95 and given to Devidasa of Nurpur, who was active from about 1680 to 1720. Basohli was one of the small kingdoms in the Himalayan foothills where Pahari painting grew. Its bold, intense manner sits at one end of the Pahari range; the delicate, lyrical painting of Kangra sits at the other.