JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN, NORTH INDIA, VS 1881/1824 AD

The Gaja Salote (elephant almanac) is a manuscript that describes elephants from different parts of the country, their qualities, diseases and treatments. Another folio, depicting Gaindmala, an elephant from the eastern province of Assam is in the Cincinnati Art Museum (Ellen S. Smart and Daniel S. Walker, Pride of the Princes: Indian Art of the Mughal Era in the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 1985, cat. 38). According to the manuscript's colophon, it was written by Shyam Vaid and completed in VS 1881/1824 AD. The patron might have been Rao Asi Singhji of Mukhtapur. Other pages were sold at Christie's, London, 11 and 12 June 1984, lot 61 and 4 July 1985, lot 9.