Amrit Pal of Basohli with Ranjit Dev of Jammu

PAHARI MASTER, JAMMU, CIRCA 1765

Details

Amrit Pal of Basohli with Ranjit Dev of Jammu
Pahari Master, Jammu, circa 1765
Depicting a garden scene with Amrit Pal of Basohli meeting Ranjit Dev of Jammu accompanied by his two sons, all seated on a balustered terrace with Ranjit smoking a waterpipe, an attendant standing by with a peacock fan, encircled by slender conifers marking the corners of the terrace, a lush green meadow behind them bordered by an array of flowerbeads, with flowers blooming in shades of orange, yellow, pink, and white
Image: 8 x 11.5/8 in. (22.5 x 29.6 cm.)

Provenance

Baron and Baroness Bachofen von Echt Collection, sold at Sotheby's London, 29 April 1992, lot 22
Lambargaon Royal Collection, Kangra, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, The Indian Heritage, Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, 1982, cat. no. 167.

Literature

W. G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills: A Survey and History of Pahari Miniature Painting, 1973, vol. II, no. 57; B. N. Goswamy, Nainsukh of Guler, A Great Indian Painter from a Small Hill-State, 1997, fig. 39.

Lot Essay

Archer attributes this painting to Nainsukh of Guler. In 1763, Nainsukh began to work for his new patron Amrit Pal after the death of his former patron Balwat Singh. Goswamy, in his recent monograph, notes that surprisingly no portraits of Amrit Pal by Nainsukh's hand appear to exist, with the present one being an early portrait but possibly by another master. This group portrait in a delicately treated garden setting commemorates a meeting of the royal families of Jammu and Basholi. Amrit Pal faces his father-in-law Ranjit Dev of Jammu (c. 1712-81), who is depicted smoking a hookah along with sons, Briraj Dev (c. 1735-87), holding a hawk on his gloved wrist, and Dalel Singh (c. 1747-82) at far left wearing an indigo Kashmiri shawl with poppy border.