EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF MADAN SINGH OF JALA

BUNDI, RAJASTHAN, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1835

Details

EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF MADAN SINGH OF JALA
BUNDI, RAJASTHAN, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1835
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the maharaja wears a diaphanous jama, pearl necklace and jewels, his prancing horse wears jewelled trappings, his retinue carries the ceremonial regalia, a city and a lake in the background, within gold, black and white rules and red borders, identified in black devanagari script on reverse
11¼ x 8½in. (28.5 x 21.6cm.)

Provenance

Bundi Royal Collection
Sotheby's, London, 10 & 11 October 1991, lot 796

Engraved

Inscribed on verso: jala madan sighji

Brought to you by

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Lot Essay

The inscription on verso identifies the rider as “Jala Madan Singhji”. Madan Singh was the son of Rajarana Madho Singh, (1773-1834) the Divan or Musahib-i-Ala (chief minister) of Kotah who inherited this office from his father, Rajarana Zalim Singhji (1739-1824). Born in Kotah in 1808, he assumed the title of Maharaj Rana and became the ruler of Jhalawar in 1838, where he died in 1845. The inscription does not mention the title of Maharaj Rana, hence our dating. A portrait of Madan Singh was published as Maharaja Kanwar Madhav Singh in Painting for the Royal Courts, Spink, London, 1976, cat.30, p.11.

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