This miniature probably depicts an episode from one of the many Mughal historical manuscripts produced in the late sixteenth century. The upper half of the composition shows an army approaching a fort by a river, from which a single mounted warrior rides out. In the lower half a general or ruler is having his head shaved by a barber in his encampment. The style of the paintings suggests a sub-imperial manuscript of the early seventeenth century, but it has been extensively repainted in the early nineteenth century, the faces of several figures suggesting Delhi work of circa 1800-20.