Hamida Banu Begum, wife of Mughal Emperor Humayun. Anglo-Indian school at Lucknow - circa late 19th century

Medium: Opaque watercolour on warqa, laid down on later card
The inscription translates "Hamida Banu Begum, zauja (wife) Shah Jahan Badshah (king)". Collectors and dealers are usually pleased to find an old inscription on a painting, assuming it to be correct, but this is often - like here - not the case, in this instance having a husband still to be born! Identification of portraits Mughal Emperors' wives are notoriously difficult to identify due to the artists never having seen them, meaning they instead painted imaginary likenesses according to contemporary notions of beauty.
Hamida Banu Begum's legacy is the mausoleum she commissioned, Humayun's Tomb, following his death.

Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk

Portrait of Thakur Umrao Singh ji, attributed to the artist Rahim ji - Bikaner, early 19th century

Medium: Gouache on wasli
In a hybrid style typical of Bikaner at the time after large scale migration of artists from Jaipur who by and large continued to paint in the Jaipuri manner.
Rajasthan's thikanas (feudal states within a kingdom) were granted with the title thakur (equivalent to a lord) by the maharaja in recognition for loyalty and service.
Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk

Illustration to (one of the Hundred Aspects of) Vishnu Satnaam, Krishna, counsellor to Arjuna - Bikaner, Early 19th Century

Medium: Opaque watercolour on wasli
Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk/

Folio from a Tantric manuscript on Ekadashi, the 11th tithi of shukla paksha - Jaipur c1800

Medium: Opaque water-colour with gold on wasli
Aspects of time in this Tantric system include the 15 tithis (lunar days) of shukla paksha (lit. 'the bright phase'). Tithis have an astrological significance and Ekadashi is considered auspicious so is important when it comes to planning occasions such as weddings and diksha ceremonies held for inordination into a sampradeya (religious order). According to the text and as is shown in the painting, the swami (lord) of this tithi is Vishwedeva with a vahana (mount) of a mriga(deer/antelope/black-buck).

Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk

Preparation for the Nuth Uterwai ceremony at a courtesan's kotha. Awadh - Late 18th Century

Medium: Opaque watercolour with gold on wasli, laid down on later thin card

On the terrace of a kotha (where courtesans entertain clients) pavilion, the central figure of a naika (approximating a brothel madam) smokes a huqqa. Around her tawaifs (courtesans) sing as part of a Nuth Uterwai ceremony in which the reclining young virginal woman wearing a flower garland will be deflowered and hence initiated into her new profession.

The folio was at some time after its production inscribed on front and back with fanciful attributions: below the inner borders red Persian script "Pashahi Zadeh badr al-nisa Begum"; at the foot in English: "No.40 Budoorul  Nisa Begum of Bagdad"; on the reverse: "Pashazadi Badranisha". Each is a reminder to dealers and collectors of the problems inherent in inscriptions on Indian miniatures which were often added at a later date and as nothing more than guesswork entirely without foundation. Perhaps in this case a dealer hoped the painting might more easily find a buyer if it was showing not a courtesan but a more exotic Oriental figure, a begum of Baghdad.

Source: indianminiaturepaintings.co.uk