The artist of this painting set the striking profile of a woman against a nondescript background of greenery, encouraging the viewer to closely observe every detail of her face and prompting an intimate interaction with the work. With a big, almond-shaped eye, an arched eyebrow, an aquiline nose, petite lips, and a fair complexion, the woman represents the ideal beauty described in classical Sanskrit poetry. The inscription at the top of the painting, written in Perso-Arabic script, reads “nayika,” meaning “a heroine” in Sanskrit. It suggests that this image may not have been a portrait of a specific person but rather was an allusion to exemplary women such as Radha, the divine consort of the god Krishna, in the Bani Thani (lady of fashion) painting tradition from Kishangarh, in northwestern India.