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拍品專文
In this striking portrait, a dignified ruler smokes a hookah while attended by two pages. The young boy tending to the ruler’s hookah and the attendant fanning him with a peacock morchha each wear elegantly patterned jama which contrast with the glistening white jama and turban of the raja. The ruler is accessorized with a vibrantly patterned waist scarf, gold and jewel inlayed pendant, bangle, earrings and turban ornament, and a fine sword, dagger and katar set. His forehead is prominently marked with a Vaishnava tilaka. The floor is layered with patterned carpets, one running the length of the scene, a smaller floral carpet for the ruler and a small circular matt on which the hookah is positioned. No detail is spared in this distinguished painting.
The varied color scheme is magnificently flamboyant, while the lines are confidently controlled. The quality of the painting takes after an earlier portrait of Raja Mahapit Dev of Mankot, ascribed to the Master at the Court of Mankot circa 1670-80 (published in B.N. Goswamy and E. Fischer, Pahari Masters, New Delhi, 2009 (reprint), pp. 100-101, no. 36). The Master of the Court of Mankot, ascribed to be a painter by the name of Meju, was active at the Mankot Court between 1680 and 1730. Meju created numerous portraits and illustrations to sacred epics and ragamalas. His work is characterized by monochromatic backgrounds of green or ochre, highlighted by dominant colors detailing the figures and objects. Other portraits attributed to the Mankot master include a portrait of the Vaishnav priest Gosain Ramji in the Kronos Collection and an earlier painting of Raja Mahipat Dev of Mankot at Prayer at the Rietberg Museum. The style and quality of such portraits bear great comparability to the present painting, it being possible the present lot was created by the hand of Meju as well.
The work lacks an inscription, so it is difficult to ascertain the identity of the subject. A portrait of Kirpal Pal, the Maharaja of Basohli (r. circa 1678-1693) in the Howard Hodgkin Collection (Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art, LI118.37) bears resemblance to the figure in the present painting, which could be a possible identification of the figure; however, that identification is complicated by the fact that the present subject is wearing a stone-inlay pendant different from the Mughal heirloom Kirpal Pal is most often depicted with.
The varied color scheme is magnificently flamboyant, while the lines are confidently controlled. The quality of the painting takes after an earlier portrait of Raja Mahapit Dev of Mankot, ascribed to the Master at the Court of Mankot circa 1670-80 (published in B.N. Goswamy and E. Fischer, Pahari Masters, New Delhi, 2009 (reprint), pp. 100-101, no. 36). The Master of the Court of Mankot, ascribed to be a painter by the name of Meju, was active at the Mankot Court between 1680 and 1730. Meju created numerous portraits and illustrations to sacred epics and ragamalas. His work is characterized by monochromatic backgrounds of green or ochre, highlighted by dominant colors detailing the figures and objects. Other portraits attributed to the Mankot master include a portrait of the Vaishnav priest Gosain Ramji in the Kronos Collection and an earlier painting of Raja Mahipat Dev of Mankot at Prayer at the Rietberg Museum. The style and quality of such portraits bear great comparability to the present painting, it being possible the present lot was created by the hand of Meju as well.
The work lacks an inscription, so it is difficult to ascertain the identity of the subject. A portrait of Kirpal Pal, the Maharaja of Basohli (r. circa 1678-1693) in the Howard Hodgkin Collection (Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art, LI118.37) bears resemblance to the figure in the present painting, which could be a possible identification of the figure; however, that identification is complicated by the fact that the present subject is wearing a stone-inlay pendant different from the Mughal heirloom Kirpal Pal is most often depicted with.