MEWAR, CIRCA 1750

Details

PORTRAIT OF A MAN
MEWAR, CIRCA 1750
Gouache on paper, the moustachioed man with grimacing face, in pink European-style rimmed hat and in white shirt, holding an apple, on green and yellow margins, red leaf, excellent condition, mounted, framed and glazed
Folio 11 1/8 x 8¼in. (28 x 21.1cm.); miniature 8¾ x 6¼in. (22 x 16cm.)

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Lot Essay

Andrew Topsfield writes about the impact of the Europeans at Mewar, particularly after the embassy of Ketelaar in the early 18th century (Andrew Topsfield, "Ketelaar's Embassy and the Farangi Theme in the Art of Udaipur", Oriental Art, n.s., vol.XXX, no.4, Winter 1984/5, pp.350-67). A number of paintings were produced thereafter which appear to be relatively sober attempts at copying European styles. A smaller group however appear to have been painted shortly thereafter which, like the present miniature, are much closer to caricature. A larger example but with similar figural observation is in the Alvin O. Bellak Collection (Darielle Mason, Intimate Worlds, Philadelphia, 2001, no.63, pp.154-5).

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