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PROPERTY FROM THE LANIER COLLECTION holds a saddled horse. Inside the enclosure Another Kotah drawing attributed to Sheikh Taju
men converse and smoke huqqa’s. Chapatis are the “Fort of Gagraun” previously in the Stuart
A REST STOP ALONG THE WAY: AN being made as a re burns beneath earthenware Cary Welch Collection and now at the Fogg
ENTOURAGE STOPS AT A VILLAGE vessels. Museum at Harvard University (accession no.
ATTRIBUTED TO SHEIKH TAJU 2009.202.240) depicts the fort’s battlements and
India, Rajasthan, Kotah, This remarkable and vigorous ink drawing accompanying gures set within a hilly landscape
circa 1735-40 is attributed to the Kotah artist Sheikh Taju about 45 miles from Kotah. An elephant ght
active during the reign of Maharao Durjan Sal - another specialty of Sheikh Taju - is viewable
Ink and chalk with touches of blue and white (r.1723-56) and it contains many of the artist’s at the upper right corner there. The “Fort of
bodycolor on paper characteristic mannerisms: thick bold line Gagraun” is a large drawing fragment, irregular in
image: 11¼ by 8¾ in. (28.6 by 22.1 cm) juxtaposed with highly detailed and delicate ink shape and executed on a type of rough natural/
passages, penetrating psychological insight bu paper similar to our own study and is almost
PROVENANCE toward his subjects (particularly here in the certainly from the same hand.
depiction of the ladies and the men smoking),
Sam Fogg Ltd., London complex compositions of views around the $ 2,000-3,000
Acquired mid-1990’s hillsides of Kotah and the numerous visible
pentimenti, or corrected sections, often
The entourage of a noblewoman stops to rest by overpainted in white bodycolor which seem to
a walled village enclosure. She walks a bit with become abstracted ourishes in their own right
her companions - slowly stretching her legs and within the overall composition.
still a little shaken from the bumpy ride over the
hills. Her carriage and its oxen at rest. A groom
INDIAN, HIMALAYAN AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN WORKS OF ART 77
