MEWAR, MARWAR OR POSSIBLY RATLAM, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1820

This large and lively painting has a number of unusual features which do not all point at the same origin. The central figure surrounded by his military entourage is a composition that is found throughout Rajasthan, especially during the 18^th and early 19^th century when warfare between the states was relatively commonplace. There may at one stage have been an identifying inscription on the margin, but that no longer remains and there is nothing on the reverse. There are elements of the iconography which point particularly to Marwar. The red and white striped flags (today’s flag of Nawanagar) that are so prominent here are seen in a portrait of Bakhat Singh of Nagaur (and later of Jodhpur) in the Khajanchi Collection (Saffronart, 9 March 2017, lot 29), and of his father Maharaja Ajit Singh in a painting dated 1722 now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi (Leigh Ashton (ed.), The Art of India and Pakistan, London, 1947, no.430, p.117 and pl.91). The horses following behind the elephant are remarkable for their armour which incorporates elephants’ trunks and tigers’ stripes, even including tiger-striped elephant trunks. The elephant-resembling armour is famed as a feature of the horse of Pratap Singh of Mewar when fighting the Mughals, as depicted in a painting of the battle of Haldighati by Chokha dated 1822 now in the Gursharan and Elivira Sidhu Collection (Wikimedia.org) and a very similar composition attributed to Chokha 1810-20 now in the Royal Asiatic Society, London (inv.RAS 062.001). The second of these images is remarkable for depicting Pratap Singh on his ‘elephant-headed’ horse in various places in the battle. Tiger stripes are less well documented as horse disguises.

The proportions of the figures are markedly stylised, with large heads and extremely short backs, lending them a slightly cartoon-like appearance. Mewar figures are traditionally depicted with some of these features, but without pronounced heads, such as seen here. Similar figures are seen for example in Chokha’s paintings just mentioned, although his style favours stippling, in contrast to the current painting. They are also found in a painting attributed to Deogarh or Ratlam, circa 1825, depicting M Balwant Singh with Colonel Borthwick (National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C., S2018.1.58). While Deogarh is almost midway between Udaipur and Jodhpur, possibly explaining the combination of elements found here, Ratlam is in Madhya Pradesh. The ruler of Ratlam was connected through marriage to the Rawat of Salumbar, who was in turn the brother of the Mewar Maharana and as a result the painting at Ratlam displays a strong Mewar/Deogarh influence.