A PORTRAIT OF ARDHANARISHVARA Possibly Mankot or Basohli, Pahari Hills, North India, 19th century Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the horizontal composition portraying Ardhanarishvara, the composite male-female figure of Shiva together with his consort Parvati, the left side depicting all the typical Shaivite attributes such as the tiger skin, the cobra necklace, the mala and the crescent moon in the God's hairs, the right with the female attributes such as the lotus crown, the figure holding up two trisula (tridents) and sitting onto a bloomed lotus seat, the scene flanked by lollipop trees and set against an ochre yellow background within black and white rules and bright red borders, mounted onto a black cardboard frame, 23.2cm x 32.3cm including the frame.