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Lot Essay
The present watercolour depicts the Nawab Wazir of Oudh, Asaf-ud-Daula, in a pose and in costume inspired by a portrait of 1784 by the artist Johann Zoffany, R.A. (1733-1810). The sitter is wearing the same jewels, and is seated in the same attitude. The geometric design of the cushions also relates to the early portrait, painted in Lucknow and now in the India Office Library (see M. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770-1825, London, New York, Karachi and Delhi, 1979, p. 147, pl. 89).
The arrival in Lucknow of artists such as Johann Zoffany and Tilly Kettle (1735-1786) caused a great stir among the Indian artists, as naturalistic oil painting on such a large scale had never been seen before. (For a painting in this sale by Zoffany see lot 84.) Mihr Chand was the most famous Indian artist who copied Tilly Kettle's work and other local artists produced similar works after western artists, very much in the Mughal style but slowly assimilating western conventions of perspective, modelling, shading and composition.
Gobindram Chatera is, however, not a Lucknow artist as is indicated by the inscription in Nagari that betrays a Hindu origin. Joachim Bautze, in his catalogue of the Ehrenfeld collection (op. cit. p. 78), suggests that the painting is stongly reminiscent of Jaipur portraits from the latter part of the 18th century and first third of the 19th century. The inscription on the reverse of the watercolour referring to a Jaisalmer dignitary, also suggests that the artist came from Rajasthan and did not know who the sitter was. The suggestion is that Gobindram Chatera was a Rajastani artist who must have seen a Lucknow copy after Zoffany and in turn painted his own copy, including a floral border, partly inspired by Mughal painting from the time of Shah Jahan and partly from Lucknow border illustration.
Asaf-ud-Daula who reigned from 1775 to 1797, succeeded his father Shuja-ud-Daula. He was painted on a number of occasions by Tilly Kettle and Zoffany and there are also three further paintings by Indian hands after the western prototypes (the first see Maggs Bulletin 30, 1979, no. 55, illustrated pl. XXV, the second see M. Archer, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1972, p. 158, no. 118, pl. 48 and the third see Christie's, London, 12 July 1979, lot 58).
The artist is also known by another painting, Portrait of Maharaja Jai Singh III with his minister probably Johta Ram, inscribed and dated in Nagari 'kalam gobandram catera ki samat 1891ka' (by the painter Gobindram, from V.S. 1891 [1834 A.D.]). (See Sotheby's New York, 23 March 1995, lot 311.)
The arrival in Lucknow of artists such as Johann Zoffany and Tilly Kettle (1735-1786) caused a great stir among the Indian artists, as naturalistic oil painting on such a large scale had never been seen before. (For a painting in this sale by Zoffany see lot 84.) Mihr Chand was the most famous Indian artist who copied Tilly Kettle's work and other local artists produced similar works after western artists, very much in the Mughal style but slowly assimilating western conventions of perspective, modelling, shading and composition.
Gobindram Chatera is, however, not a Lucknow artist as is indicated by the inscription in Nagari that betrays a Hindu origin. Joachim Bautze, in his catalogue of the Ehrenfeld collection (op. cit. p. 78), suggests that the painting is stongly reminiscent of Jaipur portraits from the latter part of the 18th century and first third of the 19th century. The inscription on the reverse of the watercolour referring to a Jaisalmer dignitary, also suggests that the artist came from Rajasthan and did not know who the sitter was. The suggestion is that Gobindram Chatera was a Rajastani artist who must have seen a Lucknow copy after Zoffany and in turn painted his own copy, including a floral border, partly inspired by Mughal painting from the time of Shah Jahan and partly from Lucknow border illustration.
Asaf-ud-Daula who reigned from 1775 to 1797, succeeded his father Shuja-ud-Daula. He was painted on a number of occasions by Tilly Kettle and Zoffany and there are also three further paintings by Indian hands after the western prototypes (the first see Maggs Bulletin 30, 1979, no. 55, illustrated pl. XXV, the second see M. Archer, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1972, p. 158, no. 118, pl. 48 and the third see Christie's, London, 12 July 1979, lot 58).
The artist is also known by another painting, Portrait of Maharaja Jai Singh III with his minister probably Johta Ram, inscribed and dated in Nagari 'kalam gobandram catera ki samat 1891ka' (by the painter Gobindram, from V.S. 1891 [1834 A.D.]). (See Sotheby's New York, 23 March 1995, lot 311.)