Maharaja Bakhat Singh of Nagaur and Jodhpur entering Nagaur on horseback, attributed to Dalchand, Jodhpur or Nagaur, circa 1745

brush and ink heightened with watercolour, gouache and gold on paper, inscribed on the recto in nasta’liq script and on the verso in devanagari script 'in taswir-i maharaj bakhat singh dar nagaur ['likeness of Maharaja Bakhat Singh in Nagaur'] and 'asabi maharajdh(i)raj maharaj sri bakhat singhji ri che ['image of Maharaj dhiraj Maharaj Bakhat Singhi']

Acquired London, before 1968

Indian Drawing, exhibition catalogue, Hodgkin and McInerney, Hayward Gallery - Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Art Gallery - Coventry, Herbert Art Gallery - Bolton, Bolton Museum and Art Gallery - Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1983

Hodgkin and McInerney 1983, no.15
Diamond-Glynn-Jasol 2008, p.273, fig.18c
Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.564, 571-572, no.8, fig.5

In good overall condition, some minor stains, losses to corners, consolidated with paper repairs, as viewed.
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Maharaja Bakhat Singh of Nagaur and Jodhpur (b. 1706, r. 1751-1752) was the second son of Maharaja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur (r. 1707-1724), whom he murdered in 1724, at the instigation of his elder brother Abhai Singh (r.1724-1749), in return for the rule of the thikana (local fiefdom) of Nagaur. These were troubled times at the Marwar court, but this did not prevent some of the finest paintings produced at Jodhpur and Nagaur appearing during this period. On the death of Maharaja Abhai Singh, the throne of Jodhpur passed to his disagreeable son Ram Singh (r. 1749-1751). On the defeat of this nephew in battle, Maharaja Bakhat Singh of Nagaur succeeded to the throne of Jodhpur in 1751, only to be murdered a year later by a neice, the widow of Maharaja Iswari Singh of Jaipur, by means of a poisoned robe.

Dalchand, the son of the influential Mughal and Kishangarh artist Bhavanidas, possibly began his training in Lahore, moving to Delhi around 1707, where he worked in the royal atelier. Recent research (Crill 1999; McInerney in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.563-578) indicates that he moved to Jodhpur around 1724, working there until 1728, when he moved on to Kishangarh, joining his father Bhavanidas, who had moved there in 1719 (Haidar in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.531-550). Inscriptions on the verso of two Jodhpur paintings refer to Dalchand as dilli ra chitara Dalchand [the Delhi artist Dalchand], a further confirmation that he was trained at the Mughal atelier (Crill 1999, pp.67-69, col. figs.37-38).

For other works by or attributed to this artist while working at Jodhpur see Crill 1999, pp.65-72, figs.37-42; McInerney in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.569-72, figs.3-7. For portraits of Maharaja Bakhat Singh, see Crill, ibid., p.62, col. fig.34 & pp.92-97, figs.67-72; Topsfield and Beach 1991, pp.72-73, no.26.