ATTRIBUTED TO SWARUP RAM, SITMAU OR DEVGARH, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1800

This charming portrait was attributed by Toby Falk to Swarup Ram, who was an eccentric painter-poet who worked for Maharaja Fateh Singh in the late 18th century. A portrait of Maharaja Fateh Singh also attributed to Swarup Ram by Toby Falk was sold at Sotheby’s as part of the Sven Gahlin Collection 6 October 2015, lot 50. Our painting and the latter are very similar in the slightly loose manner in which the artist has painted and coloured in the scene. For another work signed Swarup Ram see Nouveau Drouot, Paris, 7 October 1980, lot 55. For other works by or attributed to Swarup Ram, see Christie’s, New York, 25 May 1978, lot 58; Sotheby’s, London, 4 April 1978, lot 326 and Christie’s, London, 19 April 1979, lot 105.