Nusra Latif Qureshi is from a generation of innovative Pakistani artists reviving the formal art of Mughal miniature painting. Qureshi combines elements of botanical drawing, historical photography, ornamental patterning and technical diagrams, as well as Persian and Indian court painting. Through her layering of intricately detailed fragments, Qureshi illustrates the diversity of South Asian visual traditions, while also commenting on how cultural influences are shared, adopted and transformed over time.

A characteristic feature of Qureshi's work is the examination of the power structures implicit in the representation of gender. Although few references are made to the woman as an individual in Mughal miniature painting, Pahari painting, which descended from the Mughal school, features female figures as significant narrative characters rather than mere ornaments to a predominantly male history. In this work and others, female figures are given central place in exotic garden settings. These women are delicately drawn in quiet repose, revealing a sensuous attention to colour and detail inherent to the miniature traditions of South Asia. The artist explains:

'This set of paintings [Acc. nos 2006.188 - 2006.194a-b] explores the ideas of love - grandeur of legendary love exemplified in the tales of princes and princesses, kings and consorts, long lost partners, waiting wives, tortured lovers and imprisoned beloveds. In these paintings, the setting provided for these acts of love is a garden of perhaps fruit trees or wild and exotic plants, rows of unfamiliar flora or mechanical shapes that threaten the tranquillity of the love story.'