Rao Ram Singh I Pursuing a Rhinoceros

Hunting was a favored Royal pastime in Rajputana and ateliers across the land - particularly at Udaipur at Kota - excelled at portraying scenes of the hunt. Kota artists were especially adept in their depiction of tiger and elephant combat imagery as in the present painting. 

The elephant goaded by its handler makes a thunderous charge at the hapless rhinoceros locking the beast in a grip with its trunk as the raja spears his prey. Although the composition is slightly formalized the scene is rendered with great skill and the painting is imbued with a palpable energy and immediacy.

Compare with an almost identical rendering of the same subject but of slightly earlier date, see J. Guy & J. Britschgi, Wonder of the Age Master Painters of India 1100-1900, New York, 2011, cat. 57, p. 136.