This Company painting is from a set of four depicting inhabitants of Delhi around 1815; they may be by the artist Faiz Ali Khan. This one shows a troupe of three dancing-girls and four musicians performing in front of a male official and a group of women, some of whom are smoking huqqas.

'Company paintings' were produced by Indian artists for Europeans living and working in the Indian subcontinent, especially British employees of the East India Company. They represent a fusion of traditional Indian artistic styles with conventions and technical features borrowed from western art. Some Company paintings were specially commissioned, while others were virtually mass-produced and could be purchased in bazaars.