Composite Horse with a Female Rider   Murshidabad   Opaque watercolour and gold on paper Late 18th century 26 x 34.5 cm   Provenance: With an Officer of the East India Company, given by him to his daughter in the early 19th century.   The Horse is made up of various animals, birds and human figures. Composite animals were popular during Akbar’s reign and were also known in South India at Anegudi in the 16th century (Stella Kramrisch, A Survey of Painting in the Deccan, 1937). Though the meaning behind composite animals is not clear Stuart Cary Welch believes they are representations of earth spirits, perhaps of Sufi inspiration (Stuart Cary Welch, Indian Drawings & Painted Sketches, 1976). The Horse is set in a Murshidabad Landscape.