According to the Invocation page of Repainting the Past: A Golden Jubilee Exhibition Of Post-colonial Indian Miniatures:
"Lord Ganesh, the elephant-headed son of the Supreme Hindu Goddess, Parvati (and by extension, her husband Shiva), is traditionally invoked for auspicious beginnings. Here, in the colour of images smeared with vermilion paste, he is shown enthroned between his wives, Siddhi and Buddhi (personified Success and Wisdom). The bowl in his upper-left hand contains laddus, or modakas, his favourite sweet: an extra platter of them appears before his "vahana" or "vehicle," the rat. He also holds a rosary for recitation of mantras, and a lotus from the lake beyond the banana grove behind the terrace."
This post-colonial, 20th C Indian miniature in traditional style was sold anonymously in Jaipur, January 1997, and subsequently sold to a Chicago acquaintance of Michael D. Rabe, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History at Saint Xavier University, also in Chicago. Prof. Rabe was the curator of the Repainting the Past: A Golden Jubilee Exhibition Of Post-colonial Indian Miniatures exhibition. This exhibition, of mid to late 20th C religious miniatures/illuminations painted in Rajasthan in traditional mid-18th style, was held in 1997 at Saint Xavier University's SXU Gallery in Chicago, to mark the 50th anniversary of India's independence from the Raj.