Woman adorned with a veil and jewelry

Chughtai's idealized females typically have arching eyebrows and elongated eyes, as seen in this painting. While these were signature traits of his artistic style, such features also reflect metaphors found in South Asian and Persian literature. Arching eyebrows, for instance, were likened to bows or curved blades, and long eyelashes to arrows that pierced the hearts of those upon whom a woman's eyes were cast.