Shuja' al-Daula, Nawab of Oudh, holding court during Holi, signed by Gobind Singh Shauquin, Lucknow, circa 1760

gouache heightened with gold on paper, signed in nasta’liq script in red at bottom centre 'raqam-e Gobins Singh Shaukin', laid down on an album page with blue inner borders, mounted on stout paper, framed

Nicholas Woodbridge, Bath
Acquired before 1972

In good overall condition, a few minor water stains, a small patch of repair with associated repainting at upper left edge of painting, slight abrasions to edges of painted area, as viewed.
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This vibrantly coloured painting presents an alluring combination of formality and frivolity. The Nawab sits at the centre with his courtiers arranged in carefully hierarchical order around him on a terrace that is laid out in orthodox manner and with a sedate landscape in the distance. Yet in front of each courtier is a large dish of red powder just waiting to be hurled across the terrace at the others, in celebration of the festival of Holi. There is a conscious tension between the formal court scene and the frivolity about to erupt, enhanced by the vivid orange garments, orange awnings, orange flowers and orange-dyed water fountain. It can be compared to several other large-scale scenes of Holi celebrations made in Oudh in the third quarter of the eighteenth century, including the following lot (lot 43) in this catalogue; a painting formerly in the Stuart Cary Welch Collection (see Sotheby's, London, 31 May 2011, lot 110; Kossak 1997, p.109, no.67); and another sold in these rooms 9 December 1975, lot 239.

Shuja’ al-Daula, Nawab of Oudh (r.1754-75) and Chief Minister to the Mughal Emperor Shah ‘Alam (r.1759-1806) at the time of the disintegration of the empire, was a powerful ruler who expanded and increased the wealth of his state by gradually annexing the richer lands of the neighbouring Hindu chieftains. In 1763, however, he aligned himself with Mir Kasim, Nawab of Bengal, against the British and was defeated by them at the battle of Baksar in the following year. There followed a long and expensive relationship with the East India Company, but in spite of this, he was able to refurbish the cities of Lucknow and Faizabad together with his army, before his dissolute son Asaf al-Daula succeeded to the by-now prosperous though vulnerable kingdom in 1775. For a description of the history and painting style of Oudh at this period, see Leach 1995, vol.II, pp.615-7. After the rout of the battle of Baksar in 1764, Shuja’ al-Daula moved his capital from Lucknow to Faizabad and it remained there until his death in 1775.

Gobind Singh Shauquin, together with Mir Chand and Mir Kalan Khan, trained in the Mughal atelier of the Emperor Muhammad Shah (r. 1720-48), the last great royal patron of Mughal painting. Several works by this artist are included in the albums commissioned in Oudh in the late-eighteenth century by the British official and patron of Indian artists, Richard Johnson, and are now in the British Library (see Falk and Archer 1981, p.148, nos.283, 284, 350x, xvii, xx-xxiv, xxvi-xxx, xxxii-xxxvi & 352x).

The popular Hindu festival of Holi, which occurs in February-March, heralds the spring and is associated with fertility. In an atmosphere of freedom and license, revellers spray each other with coloured, usually red, water and throw red powder. The subject was a popular one in Indian painting.