A priest and worshippers before a shrine with an image of Siva represented by flames, Kotah, dated 1791-92

gouache heightened with gold and silver on paper, inscribed in devanagari script in borders above, 'phano Shri Gusai-ji shri', and below, 'shrit gusain-ji shri Hi(?)agar-ji phas phan(?)magar-ji mi. sanbu 1 samat 1848' [A.D. 1791-92]

Frederick Harrap, London, and thence by descent
Acquired in 2005

In generally good overall condition, colours vivid, some losses and abrasions to leaf edges, water staining to reverse, as viewed.
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This bold and unusual painting of worshippers at a shrine is remarkable for the specific subject matter and for the complex, rather dizzying combination of wild landscape and architecture depicted in both elevation and plan (bird's-eye view), a manner that was popular in certain Rajasthani schools. The principal figure in this unusual, large painting is a bearded priest, whose horizontal marks on his forehead indicate a Shaivite allegiance (rather than Vaishnavite, which would be indicated by vertical lines on the forehead). The shrine in the centre of this painting probably thus contains an image of Siva, represented by flames. Ganesha, the small standing figure with his elephant head in the top right-hand corner inside the shrine, is sometimes said to be the son of Siva and Parvati. A tiger, the mount of Durga, the sakti or creative energy of Siva, appears in the foreground. It is uncertain who the boy dressed in gold on the steps of the shrine is, but the two accompanying the Gosain are probably his sons. They are joined by several worshipping women, while monkeys swarm over the dome of the shrine, and animals and birds range over the hilly background. The oversized main shrine, the smaller ones dotted around the landscape, the trees and the human figures are all viewed from front-on, while the other buildings and the walls that surround the site are depicted from the side, but at widely varying angles and are placed vertically and diagonally on the page. The whole lower part of the scene is simultaneously seen from above, the rivers being depicted in this manner. In the background the rocky outcrops, also viewed in elevation, grow organically from the green pastures. The whole composition is populated by myriad humans, animals and birds.

This subject is treated in a very different style from the series of known religious Kotah miniatures of the early-nineteenth century depicting scenes from the devotions of the cult of Shri Nathji (Welch et al. 1997, pp.184-201, nos.54-62; see also Gahlin 1991, pp.64-64, nos.66 and pl.67; Gahlin 2002, pp.42-44, no.25).