Holy men in a landscape; Travelling entertainers and their animals in a landscape: two drawings on one page, Bikaner, second half 17th century

ink with use of colours on paper, mounted with gold margin rules and narrow pink borders

Francesca Galloway, London, 2000

Asian Textiles, Indian Miniatures and Works of Art, Francesca Galloway, London, 2000, no.27

Generally in good condition, some spots of discoloration and one larger patch at lower right, otherwise good, as viewed.
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This unusual page bears two drawings. The one on the left shows a group of holy men in a landscape; the one on the right shows two itinerant entertainers with their performing animals, also in a landscape. The landscape settings are so similar and the scale of the figures so alike that it seems almost to be a single composition. But there is a distinctive blank vertical strip separating the two scenes that is undoubtedly an intentional divider. These are drawn with considerable verve and a confident yet light hand. But while the foliage, human figures and quadrupeds are carefully executed, the birds are drawn in a sketchy manner. It is the companion piece to another 'two-in-one' drawing showing Rustam attacking a demon, executed in a Safavid- and Deccani-inspired style and attributed by Robert Skelton to Bikaner in the second half of the seventeenth century "where several families of Mughal-trained painters possessed cartoons of earlier works." (Skelton 1994, pp.45, 47, fig.7).

The scene of entertainers here includes much interesting detail. The central action consists of a performing monkey seated astride a goat that is balancing on top of a tower of triangular blocks (almost resembling a candlestick). Amongst the other animals and equipment belonging to the entertainers are several tame birds (one still in a sack), a tortoise, a scorpion, and snake with its basket, and a drum.