2-999-819 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A Festive Gathering, c1163 AH/AD 1750. This painting celebrates the pleasures of smoking and partaking in good company. The composition is made up of animated vignettes. In the bottom right corner a man in orange sits with betel quids - a mild stimulant - arrayed in front of him, watching two men embroiled in a dispute, one with a dagger drawn. The rest look on in anticipation, smoking and conversing.