Document82

FRANCESCAGALLOWAYIndian Paintings & ObjectsJerry Losty

7th October to 12th November 2.

29

pahari

The Wrestling Match between Jarasandha and Bhima

The painting illustrates an episode from Book 2 of the Mahabharata, chapters 23-24. Krishna and the two Pandava brothers Arjuna and Bhima have come to the court of the mighty emperor Jarasandha in Magadha, who kept captive at his court the many kings he had defeated in order to gain his ascendancy. Jarasandha has to be disposed of before Arjuna’s eldest brother Yudhisthira can perform the rajasuya sacrifice confirming his supremacy over all other kings. They have travelled disguised as Brahmins to the court of Jarasandha in Magadha and there Bhima has challenged Jarasandha to single combat by wrestling.

The fight has lasted an entire month, and in the end Bhima seeks Krishna’s advice as to how to defeat his enemy. Krishna advises Bhima to tear Jaras-andha apart (a reference to his peculiar origin of having being put together from two separate pieces), which the mighty Bhima duly does. Jarasandha and Bhima are fighting in the middle and Bhima looks towards Krishna for advice. Krishna and Arjuna are on the right - Krishna is tearing a plant in two suggesting to Bhima how to proceed, Arjuna holds a flask of water. On the left stand two of Jarasandha’s supporters equipped with water and towel. In the background are the raja’s musicians and courtiers who may perhaps be the many kings captured by Jarasandha in his long career of intimidation. The third inscription reading rangabhumi refers to the actual wrestling ground or theatre in the Mahabharata where the fight took place.

Of all the Rajput Hill States it was Mandi and Bilaspur that were most ex-posed to pictorial influence from the plains in the 17th century. Whereas Mandi had developed a sophisticated response to Mughal ideas of space and volume by the mid-17th century, the response of Bilaspur was more muted and similar to what happened in Rajasthan as for example in Bikaner when Popular and Sub-imperial paintings began to influence their styles. Here the square heads with neat moustaches and sideburns, the turbans and the jamas are those seen in paintings of the late Shah Jahan/early Aurangzeb period, here translated to the Hills perhaps 10 or 20 years later and perhaps through Bikaner. Two paintings from an unknown series from Bilaspur (Archer, Kahl-ur, 5i-ii, better illustrated in Archer 1976, nos. 32-33) showing the same type of portrait type, costume and approach to landscape seem related. Bautze no. 49 discusses a related series.

By a Pahari artist from Bilaspur, 1660-80Inscribed in neat takri characters: raja jarasandha to left and bhimasena to right of the wrestlers; also rangabhumi (‘theatre’, i.e. wrestling ground)Painting: 22.5 × 29 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenanceHoward Hodgkin Spink & Son LtdPratapaditya Pal

LiteratureArcher, W.G., Indian Painting from

the Punjab Hills, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 1973

Archer, W.G., Visions of Courtly India: the Archer Collection of Pahari Miniatures, International Exhibitions Foundation, London, New York, 1976

Glynn, C., ‘Early Painting in Mandi’, in Artibus Asiae, XLIV, 1, 1983, pp. 21-64

Bautze, J., Indian Miniature Paintings, c. 1590-c.1850, Galerie Saundarya Lahari, Amsterdam, 1987

31

pahari

Rama and Laksmana are Pinned by Serpentine Arrows, while the Monkeys Flee from Vibhisana

A page from Book 6, the Yuddhakanda or Lankakanda (Book of Battles or Lanka), of the Ramayana, canto 49. Ravana’s terrifying magician son Indra-jit, who has the power to make himself invisible, has successfully ensnared Rama and Laksmana in serpentine coils so that they cannot move and lie on the ground unconscious, their eyes rolled up. On the left stands the monkey king Sugriva who is seeking advice from his nephew Angada and the king of the bears Jambavan as to what to do. All the other monkeys, including the blue crowned monkey general Nila, are terrified when they see Vibhisana, Ravana’s brother, advancing on them with his club. Vibhisana had previ-ously abandoned his doomed brother and come over to Rama’s side but the monkeys mistake him for the invisible Indrajit and run away in terror.

This particular artist has a peculiar trick of perspective. The monkeys are not climbing up over each other in order to escape but are actually in a reced-ing line: other paintings by this artist show him resolving perspective issues of one person or monkey behind another in the same individual way. Style III of this dispersed series including these wonderfully humanized portraits of the monkeys is found mostly in the Book of Kiskindha and Book of Bat-tles. For discussion as to the disputed origin of the series, see among others Archer, pp. 325-29; Goswamy and Fischer, pp. 76-91 (although they do not take a view on the place of origin of Styles III and IV); and Britschgi and Fischer, pp. 12-14.

For closely related pages from the nagapasa (‘snake-binding’) episode, numbered 61 on the reverse, see Topsfield, no. 49, and Sotheby’s New York, 6 October 1990, lot 115, numbered 60. Other pages from this episode are in the Los Angeles County Museum; Bharat Kala Bhava, Varanasi (Krishna 1981, fig. 543); Museum Rietberg, Zurich (the next painting to this one, see Britschgi and Fischer, no. 73, there miscalled Style IV); and the National Museum, New Delhi.

ML632

By a Pahari artist from Bahu or Kulu, from the Shangri Ramayana, Style III, 1700-10Inscribed in nagari on the reverse Lankakanda 64Painting: 18.6 × 29 cm, with red borderFolio: 21.5 × 31.6 cmOpaque watercolour on paper

LiteratureArcher, W.G., Indian Painting

from the Punjab Hills, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 1973

Krishna, A., ed., Chhavi -2: Rai Krshnadasa Felicitation Volume, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi, 1981

Goswamy, B.N., and Fischer, E., Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997

Topsfield, A., ed., In the Realm of Gods and Kings - Arts of India, Philip Wilson, London, 2004

Britschgi, J., and Fischer, E., Rama und Sita: das Ramayana in der Malerei Indiens, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 2008

33

pahari

Rama Confronts Khara and his Army of 14,000 Demons

A page from from the Forest Book of the Ramayana, the Aranyakanda. Rama, Sita and Laksmana had been living peacefully in the forest for more than 12 years when they were accosted by the female demon Surpanakha, who demanded sexual favours first from Rama and then Laksmana. Both had of course repulsed her, but it was not until she had attacked Sita thinking that without her around she would succeed that the enraged Laksmana punished Surpanakha by cutting off her nose and ears. She rushed off to appeal to her brother Khara for vengeance. Rama easily despatched the 14 demons first sent to kill him and Laksmana. Now Rama has told Laksmana to guard Sita while he himself confronts Khara and his army of 14,000 demons. Khara himself advances in his great war-chariot intending to kill the upstart youth, urging on his followers, while Rama stands resolute preparing to shoot from his bow. Above three celestials float in the sky, wondering the inscription tells us how Rama will triumph, but of course they should know as do we that the divine hero will.

For discussion as to the disputed origin of the series, see among others Arch-er, pp. 325-29, and Britschgi and Fischer, pp. 12-14. Archer’s Style IV is found mostly in the Books of the Forest, as here, and of Kiskindha (see Archer Kulu, 5i-iii). Archer sees a perceptible influence from Bilaspur in the work of this art-ist. For the episode before this one of Rama dealing with the 14 demons sent by Khara, see Archer 1976, no. 51, also Britschgi and Fischer, no. 35.

ML630

By a Pahari artist from Kulu or Bahu, from the Shangri Ramayana, Style IV, 1700-10Inscribed on the border in Hindi in takri script: Laksmana Siha parvat di guha rahe upranta Sri Ramacandra prati var sena sehvrata man judhe ki avanda hoya. Tit same deva gandharva sab ascarja karde hoye yek Sri Ramacandra raksasa bahut hai. Kaise kar judh hoyega (‘Laksmana and Sita stay in the cave and Sri Ramacandra comes forth to battle. On seeing the large army of demons, the devas and gandharvas wonder how Rama will single-handedly fight them’)Inscribed on the reverse in nagari: Aranyakanda, 42Painting: 19 × 29.6 cm, with red borderFolio: 21.5 × 32 cmOpaque watercolour on paper




Britschgi, J., and Fischer, E., Rama und Sita: das Ramayana in der Malerei Indiens, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 2008

35

pahari

The Lady at her Toilet

A lady is standing on a stool dressing herself after her bath. Her hair is still loose and she looks at herself in the mirror held by her attendant. She has put on her yellow paijama and drawn a greenish yellow orhni round her-self, decorated with a tie-dyed repeated pattern of three dots. Her attendant wears a pair of blue and white striped paijama with a jade-green overskirt, a sage-green bodice, and a purple dupatta or scarf that winds round her head and upper body and falls vertically in front of her. The brilliant colours of the women’s garments and the pink of the stool cushion contrast the more with the muted tones of the blue and silver grey background colours, rising to a tangle of grey, black and yellow clouds above. Archer writes (1976, p. 104) that ‘this picture is a study in exhilarating despair. … If her lover were to come she would be almost ready. Any upsurge of erotic joy, however, is belied by the chilly bleakness of the silver grey background and by the black-ish clouds that snarl above her. There is a sense of nervous apprehension … Yet the picture exhilarates, and this can only be due to the golden glory of her clothes, the blackness of her hair and the wild varieties of poetic colour in the maid’s attire.’

Archer (1973, I, p. 336) puts this and similar paintings in Kulu on the basis of their obvious derivation from styles I and II of the ‘Shangri’ Ramayana (see paintings from this series in this catalogue for references) via the ‘Rothen-stein’ Ragamala series of 1700-10 (ibid., Kulu 13). Archer points to the style’s initial dependence on the earlier ‘Basohli’ idiom in the facial characteristics (Basohli and Kulu being closely related states despite their geographical sep-aration) but also to the departure from it in the wilder draughtsmanship and colouring, suggesting a more provincial idiom such as Kulu as suggested by the Ramayana’s find spot. Goswamy and Fischer argue that only the find-spot in Shangri links the Ramayana with Kulu and move the whole of the Ramayana series and its dependents to Bahu/Jammu far to the west, on the basis of the style being used to portray Raja Kripal Dev of Bahu c. 1690 (pp. 76-93). Regardless of this scholarly controversy, the lively draughtsmanship and vivid colouring of this painting continue to startle and intrigue the spectator.

By a Pahari artist at Kulu, 1720-30Painting with painted blue border: 23.7 × 14 cmOpaque watercolour and silver on paper

ProvenanceArcher Collection

ExhibitedIndian Miniatures from the Collection of Mildred and W.G. Archer, no. 30Romance and Poetry in Indian Painting, no. 32Visions of Courtly India: the Archer Collection of Pahari Miniatures, no. 56Indian Miniatures from the Archer and Other Private Collections, no. 19

LiteratureArcher, M. and W.G., and Lee,

S., Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Mildred and W.G. Archer, Washington, 1963

Archer, M. and W.G., Romance and Poetry in Indian Painting, Wildenstein, London, 1965

Archer, W.G., Indian Painting from the Punjab Hills, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 1973



Galloway, F., and Kwiatkowski, W., Indian Miniatures from the Archer and Other Private Collections, Francesca Galloway, London, 2005

36

Attributed to the Pahari artist Nainsukh of Guler, circa 1735-40Painting: 16.3 × 23.7 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenanceAcquired by Winifred Nicholson in India in 1919Private collection, England

ExhibitedThe Royal Academy, London, 1949

LiteratureAshton, Sir Leigh, and Gray, B.,

The Art of India and Pakistan, London, 1950

Losty, J.P., Indian Book Painting, London, 1986

Beach, M. C., Koch, E., and Thackston, W., King of the World, the Padshahnama, Azimuth, London, 1997

Goswamy, B.N., Nainsukh of Guler, Artibus Asiae Suppl. XLI, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1997


Ohri, V.C., ‘Pandit Seu and his sons Manaku and Nainsukh’, in Ohri, V.C., and Craven, R., ed., Painters of the Pahari Schools, Marg Publications, Bombay, 1998, pp. 149-66

AL1059

pahari

A Group of Trumpeters

Seven musicians, each clad in a jama and a turban, hold the same musical instrument, a Pahari horn with an enormously long pipe, locally called the turhi. The handling of the individual figures, each a character in his own right, is strikingly close to that seen in many of the Balwant Singh group of paintings that Nainsukh was to make later on in his career. Goswamy at-tributes this recently rediscovered painting to the early period of Nainsukh’s oeuvre: ‘Pandit Seu’s painting of hillmen dancing at a fair, now in the Riet-berg Museum (Goswamy and Fischer, 1992, no 91) comes to mind, for there too a musician blows on a similar horn as other men dance, but Nainsukh achieves here a pattern that tautly balances order with abandon. Not many painters in the hills could have either conceived of a self-contained work like this or handled it with such supreme assurance’ (Gosvamy, p. 72, no. 13). Gos-vamy’s account of Nainsukh’s life puts the early, Mughal-influenced, period 1735-40, but other scholars put it a decade later.

The painting comes from Nainsukh’s first period when he was either copy-ing Mughal paintings or basing his own work on similar themes (Archer no. 29). Scholarly opinion differs as to whether Nainsukh and his father Pandit Seu of Guler gradually absorbed Mughal influences into their work while still in the Hills (Goswamy and Fischer, p. 268) or whether they actually visited and worked in Mughal centres such as Delhi or Lahore (as Archer, Khandala-wala and Ohri have suggested, see Ohri 1998). Whereas the new way of por-traying the human figure may have filtered into Guler painting from exam-ples of the work of Mughal artists of the Muhammad Shah period (1719-48), it is difficult to believe that the sheer energy of this painting and those of Der-vishes Dancing and Hillmen Dancing attributed to his father (Archer, Guler 12 and 13) could have been imbibed from the static monumentality associated with Mughal painting of the first half of the 18th century as these authors suggest. Rather such energy, the tight control of space and naturalistic obser-vation of such details as the puffed cheeks of the musicians that we can see in this painting come directly from looking at Mughal paintings of a much ear-lier period. Surdas Gujarati’s Celebration at the Birth of Timur (British Library, Or. 12988, f. 34v) from the second imperial Akbarnama of c. 1604 comes more readily to mind (Losty, p. 32). The various groups of trumpet players seen in the Windsor Castle Padshanama (Beach and Koch, passim) are also relevant here, although these are rendered more suavely than either Nainsukh’s or Surdas’s versions. Whereas Pandit Seu’s dancers are observed from on high so that they are spread out all over the page, Nainsukh is not afraid to lower his viewpoint here so that the musicians are depicted in a tightly controlled group in a naturalistic observation.

38

ML599

By a Pahari artist at Guler, c. 1750-60Inscribed on the reverse in takri script: sri sahib dip cand jiPainting: 16.2 × 10.1 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenancePrivate collection, Japan



pahari

Dip Chand at the Jharokha Window

Window portraits such as this in the Hills were invariably of rulers. While there are some 17th century examples, the compositional format really took off in Guler in the mid-18th century under renewed Mughal influence. A no-bleman is portrayed at the jharokha window, his right hand holding up a let-ter with a meaningless inscription, his left resting on the sill. The window surrounds are of white marble. A rich silver brocaded cloth falls over the sill, while the arched window opening above is surmounted by a rolled-up blind. The format of the white marble arched window surround and the rolled up blind above and rich cloth below are typical of Guler portraits of the mid-century (Archer, Guler 24 and 26).

It has not been possible to precisely identify the subject. It is not a post-humous portrait of Raja Dip Chand of Bilaspur (1650-67). The subject here rather resembles Raja Dalip Singh of Guler (1695-1741), except that the lat-ter is invariably depicted with double pearl earrings (Archer, Guler 20-21). The curious wording of the takri inscription, together with the incursion of Gurmukhi characters into it, suggests that it was added during the Sikh oc-cupation and the administration of Desa Singh Majithiya from 1813-32. The incompetent scribe may have been confused by the later rulers of Guler from Govardhan Chand onwards having Chand rather than Singh as part of their name, but why he should have written Dip rather than Dalip is unexplained. The high-arched eyebrow suggests a stylised, posthumous portrait.

39

By a Pahari artist at Mandi, 1750-75Inscribed above in nagari: sri je si [ngh? Rest indicepherable]…To the left: prohat zindaTo the right: pandat kselaAnd on reverse: Tisa ehi Masta Rama gaya thia se bhi asala bheji dena (‘One Masta Rama had gone (somewhere) and something original may please be sent through him’)Painting: 17.8 × 12.6 cmFolio: 25.7 × 20 cmOpaque watercolour on paper

ProvenanceMandi Royal CollectionPrivate Collection, London



pahari

An Unknown Man, possibly Raja Jai Singh of Kulu, with the Priest Jinda and the Pundit Ksela

The format of the portrait with its very partial indication of space and the white band and birds across the top indicates a provenance in Mandi in the third quarter of the 18th century (Archer, Mandi nos. 18-25). The subject of the portrait stands thin and upright, his hair loose and unconfined over his shoulders, and he wears a short knee-length tunic. He holds a pan in his hand and his forehead is covered in broad yellow Saiva sectarian marks. On ei-ther side stands an important personage. The priest or purohit Zinda or Jinda stands in front of him, his hands together in a respectful gesture, the Pundit Ksela stands behind with a cloth indicating the central figure’s royal status.

It is possible that the inscription above reads Jai Singh. There was no such raja in Mandi. The most suitable candidate is Raja Jai Singh of Kulu (1731-42), who went into exile after a revolt about 1740, first to Lahore and then apparently to Ayodhya (Archer, p. 321). His various portraits (ibid., Baghal 9-11, Kahlur 22) show the same long thin face, tiny moustache and long loose hair. As a devotee of Rama as Raghunathji like all the Kulu rajas from Jagat Singh in 1650, it is unusual to see him wear Saiva sectarian marks, but the painting was actually done in the Saiva stronghold of Mandi during the reign of Shamser Sen (1727-81). The latter had been able in the disorders in Kulu around 1740 to seize some Kulu land from Jai Singh. He was also it seems slightly deranged and surrounded himself with unusual hangers-on (ibid., p. 347). Jai Singh’s broad and obvious Saiva sectarian marks are similar to those depicted on Shamser Sen (ibid., Mandi, nos. 24, 25, 29, 31).

40

Guler, circa 1760Painting: 18.5 × 28 cmOpaque watercolour and gold and oxidised silver on paper

LiteratureCoomaraswamy, A.K., Rajput

Painting, Oxford, 1916, pls.XXXVI, XXXVII

Aijazuddin, F.S., Pahari Paintings and Sikh Portraits in the Lahore Museum, London, New York, Sotheby, 1977, pp. 27 & 39, no. 30

Dye, Joseph M.III, The Arts of India - Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2001, no. 147, pp. 343-344.

Archer, W.G., Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, 1973, vol. I, p. 149: vol. II, no. 14, p. 99 & no. 70, p.158.

pahari

The unveiling of Draupadi : illustration to Bhagavata Purana

Dhritarashtra, the blind king of the Kauravas, is seated in council with his sons while one of them, Duryodhana, is turned towards his brother, Dursas-ana, and orders him to stripDraupadi. She stands semi-naked, in a mass of coloured saris at her feet, modestly trying to cover her bosom while her five husbands, the Pandava brothers, sit dejectedly, huddled together in a lonely group in the foreground. In the story, Krishna took pity on Draupadi and caused her garments to be replaced as they were torn away.

This scene is from the Book of the Assembly Hall (Sabha-parva) which, ac-cording to van Buitenen, is the pivotal one of the eighteen major books of the Mahabharata. The book starts with a detailed account of the building of the great Hall, describing its splendour and gem-encrusted grandeur which the artist of this elegant painting has tried to convey. Compared with an unfin-ished earlier version from the Rothstein

collection in the Victoria & Albert Museum (no.1.S.131-1951), the artist here has conceived this dramatic event as taking place in a grander palatial setting with greater attention to decorative detail and a certain jewel-like quality.

Our painting belongs to the end of what Archer refers to as Guler’s second phase (1740-1770) which centres on the court and taste of Raja Govardhan Chand (1741-1773). Coomaraswamy (1916) refers to a ‘deliberate research into physical charm’ and Archer describes a desire to portray feminine charms and in certain cases, such as in this painting, a wish to emphasise the sexual character of particular situations. Archer also observes an interest in copying earlier renditions of the same subject, albeit with modifications or additions.

Similar renderings of this scene from the Mahabharata are in the Lahore Museum {LM no E.15 (pre 1922)} and the Chandigarh Museum which may be slightly later in date than ours. Also, the same basic architectural format can be seen in a later Guler painting of ‘Krishna Slaying King Shishupala’, now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (81.216). Archer publishes another painting from the Mahabharata ‘The blind Dhritarashtra with Kauravas and Pandavas’ as Jammu, circa 1790, which could be from the same set as our painting.

42

pahari

Raja Govardhan Chand of Guler with a Falcon

Raja Govardhan Chand of Guler (b. c. 1713, regent for his father c. 1730, ac-cession 1741, d. 1773) is one of the most frequently portrayed of Pahari rulers. He was much feared in Guler and the eastern hills but had to accept tribu-tary status to Kangra in 1761. He appears in this portrait to be about 10 years younger than he appears in what must be one of his last portraits painted shortly before his death (Archer, Guler no. 48), which is a simple bust por-trait at a window. The iconography of our portrait is based on a portrait of him seated smoking on a terrace with a falcon perched on the balustrade, behind which extends a lush landscape (Archer, Guler no. 24), typical of the earlier portraits of the Guler school. Here the falcon has been transferred to the raja’s wrist.

Later Guler portraiture is less lavish than earlier, with a simple terrace and rarely a landscape (see the double portrait of Prakash Chand and Sansar Chand elsewhere in this catalogue). Nonetheless the depiction of Govardhan Chand here is still extremely accomplished. One admires in particular the stylised yet delicate depiction of the folds and shadows of the jama and shawl as well as the sensitive treatment of the eye, hair and beard. Raja and falcon stare at each other across a void, the curve of his nose echoed by that of the bird’s beak. He seems faintly amused by the bird.

By a Pahari artist at Guler, c. 1765Painting: 15.9 x 10.7cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenancePrivate collection, Switzerland

LiteratureArcher, W.G., Indian Painting from the Punjab Hills, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 1973

43

pahari

Krishna trying to Grab the Moon

Yasoda in a red and blue skirt holds back the child Krishna as he strives to seize the crescent moon reflected in a basin of water while, with her right hand, she points at the real moon in the sky. Behind Rohini talks to the pale skinned Balarama whose blond curls are highlighted with gold. The subject of Krishna crying for the moon comes not from the Bhagavata Purana but from the Sursagar or great poem on Krishna bhakti by the blind 16th century poet Surdas:

Mother, the moon I want as my toy. I will roll on the floor, Not come to your lap, Nor have my hair-braid combed. No longer will I be your child I will only be Nand baba’s boy.

Yasoda pacifies the child by promising him a bride.The subject and style are related to work of c. 1770-80 from Nurpur. See

Archer Nurpur 44, p 318, for a similar but not identical composition, and Nur-pur 49 for a similar minimalist approach to landscape. The figure painting here is rather finer than these Nurpur examples, especially the highly arched eyebrows, derived from similar Guler examples, although the background is comparatively coarse.

By a Pahari artist at Nurpur, c. 1770-80Painting: 29.5 × 20.3 cm including red borderOpaque watercolour and gold on paper



44

pahari

Raja Prakash Chand of Guler (1773-90) and Raja Samsar Chand of Kangra (1775-1823)

The two rulers are seated together on a carpeted terrace with a long marble balustrade, a triangular vista of garden edged with cypresses and flowering trees ending in a pavilion all viewed within a cusped white marble arch. The painting is a variant of the double portrait done c. 1780 at Guler of Raja Pra-kash Chand of Guler and Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra seated smoking on a terrace in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Archer, Guler no. fig.52). Simi-larly sensitive as to the way the rulers are portrayed, suggesting a Guler artist (Sansar Chand’s Kangra portraits are somewhat less refined), on the other hand the screens of trees are found in slightly later Kangra paintings (Archer, Kangra 37iv).

Prakash Chand (born c. 1748, reg. 1773-90 when he retired, died 1820) was something of an oddity according to Archer (p. 129) – simple, pious and per-haps a little crazed, he overspent wildly on charity. He was on friendly, if tributary terms, with Raja Sansar Chand (born 1765, reg. 1775-1823) of Kan-gra, at this time about to begin his rise to control of the eastern Pahari states. While the same charba may well have been used as in the V & A painting, but reversed, both rulers are depicted slightly older, with Prakash Chand sport-ing the full beard and moustaches he seems to have affected about 1790. For further portraits of these rulers, see Archer , Guler 49-56 and Kangra 9-22, and Aijazuddin, p. 38, figs. 17 and 18.

ML627

By a Pahari artist at Guler or Kangra, circa 1790Painting: 19 × 12.6 cmFolio: 22 × 15 cmOpaque watercolour with gold on paper

ProvenanceCol. O. Tandan



Aijazuddin, F. S., Pahari Paintings and Sikh Portraits in the Lahore Museum, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 1977

45

pahari

Krishna dancing on snakes

In utter abandon, Krishna is dancing on the head of the snake king Kaliya amidst the swirling waters of the river Jumna. His flute is in his extended right hand and his dupatta floats about him. Krishna’s dance-pose echoes that in the Vasanta raga in the Kangra Ragamala series of c. 1785 (Archer, Kan-gra 37iv), but where there Krishna is flirting with the gopis, here he is in total self-absorption. Instead of the usual multi-headed cobra of Rajput imagina-tion, here Kaliya is envisaged as a huge body with its top wreathed in snakes. The form of the serpent reproduces that seen in the narrative scene in the first Bhagavata Purana (1775-1780, Archer Kangra 36iv). The effect in this painting is to suggest a kind of Siva lingam. Of special note here is the pattern in the waters that suggests an elephant’s head, again indicative of Siva in his role as the destroyer of the elephant demon Gajasura. The image therefore can be read as the triumph of the worship of Krishna over that of Siva.

Archer remarks of religion in Kangra (p. 245) that there was a clear bias towards Siva and the Devi, except in the reign of Sansar Chand (1775-1823) when worship of Krishna suddenly becomes prominent. Sansar Chand was personally devoted to Krishna and no doubt commissioned the first Kangra Bhagavata Purana and Gita Govinda (1775-1780), but he could hardly totally abandon his ancestral Katoch family worship of the Devi. Such religious ten-sions find some outlet in this remarkable painting.

By a Pahari artist at Kangra, 1790-1800Painting: 18 × 13 cmFolio: 23.8 × 18.8 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper



46

pahari

A Prince and his Mistress Watch a Storm

In a high pavilion overlooking a lake at the onset of the monsoon, a wom-an clings to her princely lover in pretended terror of the lightning bolts and rolling black clouds, imploring her not to leave her, while he embraces her soothingly and points out the lines of cranes silhouetted against the rolling black clouds. Below two female musicians serenading the lovers smile at each other in recognition of her ploy.

Paintings illustrating love in union during the rains are numerous. In tra-ditional Indian poetry and art, the onset of the rains in June signalled the end of the campaigning and travelling season, forcing everyone to stay at home with their loved ones. The onset of the monsoon, the rolling clouds, the play of lightning, the flight of egrets and cranes against slate blue clouds, have a continuous fascination for the Indian mind. Indian poets have sung of the joys of rains and artists have given expression to that joy in their paintings. Our particular miniature is illustrated in Randhawa’s Kangra Paintings on Love (fig.75), where it is used to illustrate Love in Union (sambhoga srngara). Randhawa also publishes a similar scene (pl. XXIII) as part of a Barahmasa series representing the month of Bhadon. A similar illustration of Bhadon is also published by Welch and Beach (fig. 69, p. 104). Barahmasa cycles consist of 12 paintings, each illustrating one of the 12 months with often an accompanying Hindi verse. In Randhawa’s translation of Kesav Das’ verse on Bhadon (p. 192):

The purple clouds are gathering, the thunder rolls and rain pours in torrents,The wind blows fiercely, the cicadas chirp, the lions roar and elephants fellthe trees. The day is dark like the night, and one’s own home is the best.Pray leave me not in the month of Bhadon, for separation pains like poison.

By a Pahari artist at Kangra, c. 1800Painting: 25 × 15 cm with blue and gold borderFolio: 26 × 16 with pink outer borderOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenanceKaran Singh

LiteratureRandhawa, M.S., Kangra Paintings

on Love, National Museum, New Delhi, 1962

Welch, S.C., and Beach, M.C., Gods, Thrones and Peacocks, Asia Society, New York, 1965

Archer, W.G., Indian Painting from the Punjab Hills, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 1973

47

pahari

Musicians Ejected from Indra’s Celestial Palace

The painting seems to illustrate an episode from the first canto of the Bhaga-vata Purana when Narada, the ancient sage and devotee of Lord Krishna, describes how he was once cursed by his father Daksa or Brahma. A long time previously, he had been a gandharva or heavenly musician. During a fire sacrifice, he was singing the appropriate devotional songs, but was not totally concentrating, being distracted by the apsarases or heavenly damsels also present in the assembly. Daksa sensed this erroneous behaviour and so cursed Narada to be deprived of his spiritual splendour and to be born as a despicable human being on earth. As a result of this curse, Narada was born as the son of a maid-servant in an Ashram or hermitage.

In Indra’s palace in the sky surrounded by clouds, a bearded man and a younger vina player are saying farewell to the doorkeeper, and then dive headlong down towards the earth. Within the palace, various women look at the throne where one of them must have been sitting.

By a Pahari artist at Kangra, early 19th centuryInscribed on the reverse in nagari: sri narayaji vulai raje indra te mataloke kija te bhaai ri citra (‘picture of Sri Narada leaving Indra’s heaven’)Painting: 22 × 30.8 cmFolio: 24 × 32.8 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper



ML496

48

compani

Six Villagers Standing on a Hillside

The Fraser album of Delhi Company paintings (dispersed in two sales in London and New York in 1980 and now in collections all over the world) is considered one of the finest groups of Company pictures yet known. These paintings surpass all other known Company paintings for their delicate real-ism, characterization and subtle composition of groups of figures. They were produced in the Delhi territory, a region that had only come under British administration in 1803. Furthermore, the Fraser pictures depicted Indian people, their costume and way of life in an area as yet hardly touched by Eu-ropean presence or example.

Unlike the two next examples of the Fraser brothers’ collections, which are superior examples of Delhi portrait painting of the 1815-20 period, this group portrait is squarely in the realm of their personal patronage and collections. It is still one of the unsolved problems of Indian painting how the Fraser brothers managed to inform their Delhi artists, who hitherto had been pro-ducing standard portraits/group portraits in the late Mughal manner, with their peculiar vision of naturalistic portraiture. As Welch remarks of this painting: ‘Encouraged to show every textile, weapon and twist of hair with illusionistic accuracy, the artist proves that the Mughal tradition remained brilliantly alive well into the nineteenth century’ (1987, p. 29).

Hazir Khan, the child on the left, is also shown with William Fraser’s bibi (mistress) in another painting (Archer and Falk, fig. 8) and it has been sug-gested that he is possibly one of William’s own children, although this does not accord with the inscription on this painting which states that he is the brother of the young man standing beside him who is himself the son of Ni-jabat Khan.

COMPANY

By a Delhi artist, c. 1816Gold border with numerals at bottom referring to the Persian and English inscriptions on the cover paper the Persian rather inaccurately transliterated (by James Fraser?) as follows (left to right):1. Salim, Rajpoot, Bechadeh Zemindar of Ranneah2. Hazir Khan, brother of Soojah (Muja), Rajpoot3. Soojah (Muja), Rajpoot Bhutee, son of Nijabut Khan (Lambardar, resident of), Ranneah4. Khajoo allee (Bhatee) Lumburdar, commonly called Soha Mojumee (…resident) of Raneeah5. Mewah (Jeewah), Rajpoot, Mundewal (resident of Rania), related to Nijabat Khan (Lambardar)6. Shamoo, son of Jeewa Mucuddum of MandewalPainting: 29.7 × 41.5 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenanceFraser FamilySotheby’s, London, 7 July 1984, lot 42John Goelet

LiteratureArcher, M., & Falk, T., India

Revealed - The Art and Adventures of James and William Fraser 1801-35, 1985, fig. 95, p. 109

Welch, S.C. & Schimmel A., Swietochowski, M.L. & Thackstone, W.M., The Emperor’s Album Images of Mughal India, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987, fig. 10, pp. 27-29

50

compani

The Burmese Ambassador to the Mughal Court

Ambassadors were sent to Delhi by King Bodawpaya, who ruled Burma from 1782 to 1819 and had hopes of making an alliance with the French, or any available Indian power against the English. Bodawpaya was an expansionist monarch and had already annexed Arakan and Manipur and had designs on Thailand, but was anxious about the equally expansionist East India Com-pany based in Calcutta which was advancing eastwards from Bengal into As-sam. There were frequent skirmishes between the two powers. Burma never succeeded in getting into real communication with the French, but she sent embassies to Indian kings with a view to making a combined attack on the English (see Harvey 1967, p. 284). There were six such embassies to north-ern Indian states between 1807 and 1823. among which that of 1817 seems relevant in the context of this painting. It must have been among the paint-ings which William Fraser sent in 1819 down to his brother James in Calcutta. Nothing came of these embassies, and after Bodawpaya’s death began the first Burma war resulting in the British annexation of lower Burma in 1824.

The five members of the embassy stand in a row on the bank of the river Jumna with the Delhi Red Fort recognizable in the background. They are dressed in a remarkable mixture of Burmese and Indian costume, brilliantly rendered. A later copy of this scene with the figures reversed is in the Metro-politan Museum of Art New York (Welch, 1987, p. 28, fig 11).

By a Delhi artist, 1816-20Inscribed above the figures from left to right (the Persian identifications refer to Burmese titles and are not fully decipherable):1.Shaykh Muhammad, interpreter (Burmese title: Mayama Shakhas The Kyu Dayama), accomplished and well-known bearer2. Akhnun Un Miyamma Piyamma Jivaraya Navratha3.Likeness of Nud Myaw Manakala Kyaw [this is the actual ambassador]4.Sri Raja (?) Sda’w5.Munkand AmpuPainting: 38.1 × 26.7 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenanceFraser family collectionSotheby’s, London, 7 July 1980, no. 32Private collection

LiteratureHarvey, G.E., History of Burma

from the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824, London, 1967

Archer, M., & Falk, T., Indian Revealed - The Art and Adventures of James and William Fraser 1801-35, 1989, no. 82

Welch S.C., Schimmel A., Swietochowski, M.L. & Thackstone, W.M. The Emperor’s Album Images of Mughal India, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987

AL 1062

52

compani

Nawab Zabita Khan Bhatti

The Bhattis are a Rajput clan who occupied Bhattiana, the tract of land north-west of Delhi nowadays divided between the states of Haryana and the Pun-jab and extending south as far as the Bikaner border (not unfortunately as suggested by Archer and Falk, p. 17, in Bahawalpur on the lower Sutlej). As the Mughal empire decayed, the area was fought over by the Sikhs and the Marathas, who successfully occupied it only to lose it to the British after their capture of Delhi and the surrounding territory in 1803. Bhattiana like many former Maratha fiefdoms round Delhi was then given to local chiefs who had been helpful to the British, in this case as the Imperial Gazetteer puts it: ‘…Bhattiana was divided between the chiefs Bahadur Khan and Zabita Khan, of whom the former held the country in the neighbourhood of Fatehabad, while the latter owned Rania and Sirsa. In 1810 the raids of Bahadur Khan had become intolerable, and an expedition sent against him annexed Fate-habad, while in 1818 the territories of Zabita Khan were acquired’ by the Brit-ish and formed into the British district of Sirsa.

William’s knowledge of Indian customs and local languages meant that he could mix easily with local inhabitants, negotiate with them, elicit local in-formation, and in these ways achieve valuable administrative results which were outside the scope of most Europeans. William Fraser would certainly have known Zabita Khan, as he was attendant on a military expedition to reduce the Bhattis to order in 1811 (Archer and Falk, pp. 17-18), while Rania in Zabita Khan’s territories was where his mistress Amiban and children were based.

This portrait of Zabita Khan is the prime example of several other versions of this portrait that appear in the various manuscripts commissioned by the Frasers’ great friend James Skinner in the 1820s presently in the British Li-brary (Add.27254, f.253v) and the Chester Beatty Library (Leach, no. 7, 32, pp. 740-41) and elsewhere. Whereas our portrait echoes the standard compo-sitional orthodoxy of much earlier Mughal portraiture (subject seated on a terrace smoking a hookah with a pavilion on the side and with an attendant behind), the naturalistic treatment of both subjects and setting here is new as is the attention to naturalistic detail. The alert pose in three-quarter profile, the fall of the draperies, the brilliant handling of the costume and hookah ac-cessories, the sense of receding space suggested by the carpet, all these show what Mughal artists had absorbed of European naturalistic effects in the pre-vious ten years. In the various Skinner versions that seem to make use of the same charba, the attendant is absent and the hookah is transferred to the right in order to re-balance the composition.

By a Delhi artist, 1816-20The figures numbered and described, transcribed by E.S.Fraser:1 figure. Nawab Zabita Khan Bhuttee, chief of the country of Raeean and of the Bhuttees2d Muckree. His KhidmutgarPainting: 28.3 × 18.4 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

ProvenanceFraser family collectionSotheby’s, New York, 9 December 1980, lot 137Collection of T. Peter KrausPrivate Collection

LiteratureArcher, M. and Falk, T. India

Revealed - The Art and Adventures of James and William Fraser 1801-35, 1989

Leach, L.Y., Mughal and other Indian Paintings in the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995

53

compani

A Muslim Nobleman and his Wife

The Tanjore school of painting owes its origin to the importation of Deccani artists and paintings into the traditional south Indian school of Tanjore after the Maratha takeover of the kingdom in 1674. Following increasing British influence in south India from the middle of the 18th century, Tanjore artists produced portraits and sets of costumes for these new patrons. Costume books from Tanjore invariably included both the man and his wife as here.

The Muslim nobleman is dressed in a long muslin jama tied with a patka, with a three quarter length gold embroidered coat and a turban. His wife wears paijamas and a choli with a transparent muslin sari and an embroi-dered orhni. Her appearance and jewelry are very south Indian, although she is sitting on a European type of chair. Behind them is depicted a landscape with palm trees and buildings on the horizon under a cloudy sky, features are characteristic of these sets from the late 18th century. For complete costume sets from Tanjore, see Archer 1972, pp. 21-36, and Archer 1992, pp. 43-66.

By a Tanjore artist, 1800-10Painting: 37.9 × 27.7 cmOpaque watercolour and gold on paper

LiteratureArcher, M., Company Drawings in

the India Office Library, HMSO, London, 1972

Archer, M., Company Paintings: Indian Paintings of the British Period, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1992

54

compani

Trade Catalogue of Kashmiri Copperware

A superb trade catalogue of Kashmiri copperware with 180 different shapes. The objects include vases, jugs, tankards, dishes, teapots, tea sets, trays and many smaller items, among them salt-cellars, tobacco boxes, even a metal book cover. These are all except for the first two drawn in simple outline with a brush. Accompanying each design is information regarding price, weight, style and name annotated in English and Persian. The first few pages contain an introduction in English explaining the general characteristics of Kashmiri copperware, highlighting which designs are specialities of the region and giv-ing details about the calculation of rates and prices. The author differentiates between two sorts of decoration, either plain copper beaten into either shawl or open flower patterns, which he calls Misree, or decorated in the manner of bidri ware which he calls Kuudkaree Safed-syah, ‘white-black’ bidri ware. The latter is made by beating the copper into either of the above patterns and fill-ing the shapes with white tin and covering the raised parts with strong black lacquer.

The first two illustrations (on pages numbered 7 and 11) of a vase and a ewer covered with flower patterns in this style are fully coloured to show the effect. The missing page 9 would presumably have been similar. Importantly there is also a note regarding the specific copper workers whose wares were being offered in the catalogue: ‘Lussoo (the leading man) Azeezoo, Ah[m]edjoo, Hubeebjoo.’ Among these coppersmiths would seem to be the same Lassu and Habib Ju of Srinagar whose wares were exhibited at the Delhi Exhibition in 1902 as representative of the foremost examples of the type. See George Watt, Indian Art at Delhi, p. 61, where Lassu is credited with a commendation for his ‘collection of copper ware in modern though good design.’ Watt is ac-tually very dismissive of the copper and brass of Kashmir, which used to be thought of well, but states that the recent attempt to cheapen production had resulted in lowering of both aesthetic and quality standards so that ‘the brass and copper wares of Kashmir from being once in great demand have become almost unsaleable’ (p. 55). Both Lassu and Habib Ju worked in other met-als besides brass and copper including silver, tinned ware and enamelling and their names occur consistently throughout the sections of Watt’s catalogue on metalwork from Kashmir (pp. 13-62). Both Ahmed Ju and Habib Ju were not-ed silversmiths (Mukharji, p. 73), whose work was sent to the 1888 Glasgow ex-hibition, but they were also noted enamallers (ibid., p. 82). Mukharji notes (p. 103) Lassu of Srinagar as the principal manufacturer in Kashmir of engraved copper ware, with his typical prices between Rs 4 for a vase or bowl and Rs 20 for a water ewer, prices which match those suggested in this volume.

Manuscript on Kashmiri polished paper, 193 numbered pages (pages 9-10 missing), written in English and Persian, in original blind-stamped Indian red leather covers, late 19th century37 × 23 cm

LiteratureMukharji, T.N., Art-Manufactures

of India, Specially Compiled for the Glasgow International Exhibition, Calcutta, 1888

Watt, Sir G., Indian Art at Delhi, 1903, being the Official Catalogue of the Delhi Exhibition, 1902-03, Calcutta, 1904

ML635

55

Sultanate Mihrab

The mihrab, or prayer niche is carved from white marble. The central niche has a fairly deep concave curve and rises into cusped lobes at the top. The point of the arch shows a suspended chain, now only a couple of links long, but which once must have held a flower or lamp motif. There is evidence below the chain of the smoothening out of the missing elements. Three hori-zontal bands in low relief span the upper width of the mihrab niche from lobe to lobe of the cusped arch. The spandrels of the arch each bear a large rosette, probably a stylized lotus flower, with vines and buds coming forth. The edges of the lobed arches are outlined by a decorative border containing petal mo-tifs within bands. The top and sides of the mihrab have a broader decorative border consisting of alternate lotus rosettes and buds on a scrolling vine.

Two bands of calligraphic Arabic inscriptions in low relief are at the bottom of the mihrab, one on the lower outer edge and the other on the base of the inner niche area. The inscription on the inner base shows considerable wear possibly due to water damage. The inscription on the outer edge is in a modi-fied naskh style and is far more readable. The inscriptions read as follows:

Outer inscription: “… ammara Ahmad bin Abi-l Fat’h al –Kazeruni fi-t ta-rikh al-mubarak shahr Ramadan sinna sab ‘ami’ a wa ‘ishrin …” “…built [it] Ahmad bin Abi-l-Fat’h Kazaruni on the blessed date of the month of Ram-adan of the year seven hundred and twenty…”

Inner inscription: “…ammara hadha al-mihrab al- mubarak (illegible)…, “…built this blessed mihrab…”.

A further small incised inscription on the right hand side of the niche ap-pears to read: ‘Allah’. The reverse of the mihrab contains a considerably de-faced frieze of deeply carved repeating figural motifs. Four stepped plinths with standing figures in groups of three on each can be discerned with a low-er band of repeating carved ornament. Rougher repeating ridges may be seen above and below, presumably mason’s marks when the piece was removed from its original location.

The cusped arch profile of the mihrab’s niche bears comparison to the cin-quefoil arches in the Ghurid mosques at Ajmer and Khatu in Rajasthan of the late 12th century. The internal ribbing is a rare feature but which may be loosely associated with developments in 12th century west Asian mihrabs, such as at Mosul where the placement of stone blocks can give rise to a simi-lar visual effect. Occurring together as they do in this mihrab is a relatively rare phenomenon but one that brings together the expected influences from a wider Islamic repertoire in this relatively fluid period in western India.

The function of the piece was that of a mihrab or prayer niche. Such niches were used in mosques, set in the qibla wall, to indicate the direction of prayer towards Mecca. The general form of the mihrab in mosque architecture is invariably that of a niche of arched profile. Within this general parameter however there is great variation of form, style, decoration and calligraphy. The treatment of this mihrab follows the overall established features of an iconic vegetal-based decoration in the spandrels with the lotus-form round-els drawn from a long standing tradition in Indian architecture. In addition, the hanging chain, naskh style calligraphy and decorated borders are all re-lated to greater architectural traditions of western India as part of a repertoire of motifs that saw widespread use.

Early Indian Islamic architectural elements are rare. This mihrab is excep-tional for its calligraphic program which mentions a date and name of maker or patron.

India, possibly Gujarat, dated 720 AH/October -November 1320 ADThe work of Abi…….ibn Abi’l -Fath al-Kazeruni and dated Ramadan 720/October-November 1320 AD’Height: 114.4 cm, width: 40.6 cm, depth: 7.8 cmCarved marble

LiteratureCousens, Henry, Burgess, Jas, The

architectural antiquities of northern Gujarat, Archaeological Survey of India; v.32, 33, Western India, 1903

We are grateful to Navina Haidar for sharing her knowledge on this piece.

57

FLOWERING IRIS PLANT

Rare sandstone panel carved with an exuberant iris blossom growing from a mount or vase of inverted leaves. The panel is framed either side with a scrolling border.

Carved sandstone panels such as this are from Mathura, north of Agra, where many grand and elaborate mansions were built along the banks of the Yamuna River in order for devotees of Lord Krishna to stay when they came to celebrate Holi and other rituals associated with the devotion of Krishna.

The style of decoration is an elegant fusion of Mughal and Rajput styles from the late 17th century

Mughal India, Mathura region, circa 1700Height: 170.2 cm, width: 94 cm, depth: 12.7 cm Carved sandstone

58

A Group of Nine Bronze Pandans

Moulded bronze containers of circular shape, 3 of undecorated ridged design; 5 of ribbed design with engraved floral decoration; 1 with leaf-shaped hinged clasps; and 1 of lob ed design

The consumption of betel (pan) in India has been recorded as far back as the 1st century AD. Pan consists of thin slivers of the betel nut mixed with lime paste and spices, and rolled in a fresh betel leaf, and is frequently taken after a meal or at any time of day. Its consumption is often associated with the refined and leisured life style of the royal court and upper classes.

Pan is stored in a special container called a pandan, a word that emerged during the Mughal and Sultanate periods, deriving from the Hindi word pan and the Persian suffix -dan, although pan was not traditionally consumed in Persia. Later pandans were large enough to hold all of the individual ingre-dients of pan separately, but because of their smaller size, earlier examples, such as those displayed here, were probably used to store the readily rolled and stuffed pan.

This group of pandans were probably produced in North India during the 17th and 18th centuries. The circular, rib-shaped examples resemble strongly the designs of the ribbed dome feature, frequently occurring in Indian archi-tecture; the plainer chased, rather than deeply engraved, decoration is typi-cal of the 18th century northern Ganges plains area. The subtle floral decora-tive motifs on the pandans, which symbolise fortune, contrast strongly to the often crowded figurative scenes decorating pandans produced in the Deccan and Rajasthan regions.

The complete lack of decoration may also point to a North Indian origin; 2 of the 3 examples displayed here, each circular with deeply pointed ridged edges, resemble the often sharply angled and geometrically balanced archi-tecture frequently encountered in Persia, while the third example can be compared to the softer features of Indian architecture further east.

The most unusual pandan in the entire group resembles the form of a flow-ering lotus blossom. The object has been delicately moulded to show the subtle folds and ridges between each petal. Considered to be a sacred plant symbolising the structure and life force of the universe, the lotus is the most common auspicious symbol in Indian art.

North India, 17th and 18th centuryVarious sizes

59

Ivory flywhisk (‘Chauri’)

A finely carved ivory flywhisk (‘chauri’) with thinly shaved ivory, used to cre-ate the hair of the whisk. This flywhisk was probably made around the mid-dle of the eighteenth century, when ivory carving reached something of a high point in India. The flowers and cypress trees that run around the top of the whisk retain the naturalism that was to be replaced by more abstract designs at the end of the century. Ivory was imported to India from Africa, Sri Lanka and Sumatra, as it was believed that Indian ivory yellowed with time. The pristine whiteness of this flywhisk confirms the quality suggested by the beauty and detail of the carving.

The flywhisk had ancient associations of power and divinity in India, and had become one of the standard insignia of royal authority in Hindu and Muslim courts alike. This flywhisk can be compared in design to another eighteenth century Mughal example in the National Museum New Delhi, this time in jade and gold, that shares with the present example the bud-shaped base, spiralled handle and flowering poppies around the top of the shaft. Flowering poppies and elongated cypress trees were among the fa-vourite motifs of the Mughal decorative repertoire in the eighteenth century, encountered most often in textiles such as court sashes (‘patkas’).

India, Mughal, mid 18th centuryOverall height including baleen: 79 cmHeight of ivory flywhisk handle: 41 cm Carved ivory and baleen

ProvenancePrivate collection, UKPrivate collection, Spain, 1960s

LiteratureDesai, V.N., Life at Court: Art

for India’s Rulers, 16th – 19th Centuries, 1985

60

Pair of Balustrades

A pair of balustrades of openwork marble, very finely carved with four repeat designs of a variety of flowers and leaves around a vertical axis. Other exam-ples of this series of jali are in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart.

Mughal, Agra or Delhi area, circa 175056 x 113 cm, height of balustrade 44 cmCarved white marble

LiteratureHerman, F., Kalter, J., Leisten, T.,

Pavaloi, M., (eds.), Die Gaerten des Islam, Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, 1993

61

A Princely Howdah

The hexagonal shaped howdah tapers slightly in the front and rests on a sup-port of two wooden struts which would have been attached onto the back of the elephant by means of metal rings, chains and cloth supports.

The outside of the howdah is entirely decorated with mica overlaid with bands of openwork, carved ivory panels, through which the mica would shimmer in the light. The bands of openwork ivory are separated by three wooden moldings veneered with mica and perforated ivory strips. The up-per band has a scalloped border above sinuous lotus scrolls. The central band consists of square panels containing flowering plants within ogee medallion forms of split acanthus leaves. The third band comprises a narrow lotus scroll and the bottom row has a frieze of alternate acanthus and lotus motifs. There are six feet, of which only two rest on a supporting wooden frame which has metal rings and heavy chains with stirrups. The howdah is reinforced on all six sides by gilded metal straps over vertical pilasters, surmounted by gilded copper finials. The wooden frame and the interior of the howdah is painted red and the reverse of the scalloped edge is carved in relief with alternate lo-tus and curved acanthus leaves.

In India the howdah (from the arabic ‘haudaj’ which in Arabia originally meant a camel litter for ladies) is an open seat structure strapped to an ele-phant’s back. This howdah would have been used by an Indian prince or raja for traveling in procession for ceremonial or state occasions or for hunting, as can so often be seen in Indian miniature paintings.

Mica, a transparent mineral substance, had long been used by Indian art-ists for preserving tracings of their family paintings. It was used in Mur-shidabad as decoration, for example for decorative lanterns at marriages and processions. Mica was also used in Patna and Benares in Eastern India and at Trichinopoly in South India.

Mughal style, probably from Murshidabad, circa 1760Width at back 115,6 cm; length 153 cm; height from finial to foot 63.5 cmWood, veneered with strips of mica and openwork carved panels of ivory

LiteratureArcher, M., Company

Paintings - Indian Paintings of the British Period, 1992

Gahlin, S., Couleurs de l’Inde- Nouvelles Acquisitions de la Collection Frits Lugt, Paris, 2002

Galloway, F., Indian Miniatures –Textile Art, 1994

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