Page 116 - Indian, Himalaya and Asian Art Bonhams Setp 2015

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AN EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF MAHARANA FATEH SINGH (R. 1884-1930) ON KHAGRAJ
By Liladhar, Mewar (Udaipur), dated 1895
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; on his rearing white stallion, the ruler is sparingly
adorned with a simple diamond turban ornament, double strand of pearls, and a bird-head
hilted sword at his left side.
Three line inscription verso in two hands:
‘Maharaj adhiraj maharana ji shri shri 108 shri Fateh Singh ji ghode Khagraj savar
sel karva padharta
ro pano samvat 1952 ka paus sud 4 kalmi chataro Leeladhar
(in another hand) keemat 24/ 1973 ra jamo ...’
‘Maharaj adhiraj Shri (108 times) Fateh Singh ji astride horse Khagraj out for a ride/ painted
Samvat 1952 [AD 1895] month of Paus day 4 by the artist Liladhar.
(In another hand) price 24/ submitted 1973 ...’
Image: 21 x 15 1/2 in. (53.3 x 39.3 cm)
$25,000 - 35,000
With the advent of photography and the ruler’s embrace of the new media to record their
pomp and circumstance, the court artists had to innovate where they could; A broader
palette is employed and the landscapes became minimalistic. Like his father Shivalal, Liladhar
employed a radiant lurid green background.
Two later 1899 portraits by Liladhar are in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (collections.
lacma.org/node/209368) and the Isabella and Vicki Ducrot Collection, Italy, (see Ducrot, Four
Centuries of Rajput Paintings, p. 81, no. ME 65). Two other portraits Maharana Fateh Singh
by Sivalal, dated 1890 and 1893 are published in Andrew Topsfield, The City Palace Museum,
Udaipur, Middletown, 1990, nos. 45 & 47. Another closely related work by Sivalal, dated 1883
sold at Bonhams, New York, 11 September 2012, lot 130.
Provenance
Spink & Sons, Ltd., London, 1980s
Estate of Judith Wright, Wisconsin
Private Collection, Chicago

114 | BONHAMS