Page 114 - Bonhams Himalayan, Indian Art march 2015
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A portrait of Maharaja Jagat Singh II Portrait of a courtesan
Udaipur, 1740-45 Bundi or Kotah, 18th century
Ink, wash, opaque watercolor, gesso, and gold on paper; lavished Ink, gold, and wash on paper; her delicately shaded face peering
with royal trappings, the nimbate maharaja smokes a hookah at dusk beyond the transparent shawl.
under a moonlit sky; a single line of takri above identifying the ruler. Image: 4 3/4 x 3 5/8 in. (12 x 9.2 cm)
Image: 6 1/8 x 4 in. (15.5 x 10 cm); Folio: 10 1/4 x 8 1/8 in. $4,000 - 6,000
(26 x 20.5 cm)
$6,000 - 8,000 Compare to an another portrait in the National Museum, New Delhi,
described as ‘the Vamp’ by Carey Welch in Indian Drawings and
Maharaja Jagat Singh II (r. 1734-51) was the last ruler of an Painted Sketches, New York, 1976, p. 85, no. 42. Both are rendered
independent Mewar before the state ceded to British rule. He was a by a confident hand in three-quarters pose with alluring expressions.
generous patron of traditional miniature painting, attested to here by Each treats the hair with fine strands, slightly disheveled and falling
the quality of line and delicate shading around the pleats of his robe past the girls’ cheeks.
and his profile.
Also compare with the ‘Bust portrait of a Sloe-eyed Beauty’ attributed
Despite his opulent jewelry, this painting also bears witness to the to Kotah, circa 1760, in the Mittal Museum (see Mittal & Seyller,
decline in court grandeur by the time of his reign; the gold hookah Mughal Paintings, Drawings, and Islamic Calligraphy, 2013, fig. 2).
ornament harks back to a time when real attendants once stood
waiting on their masters while they enjoyed the hookah on a cool Provenance
autumn night like this. Private Virginia Collection since 2000
Provenance
Collection of Cynthia Hazen Polsky before 2005
112 | BONHAMS
