A lion hunt, Mewar, Udaipur, circa 1700-10

brush and grey ink heightened with gouache and gold, inscribed on the recto in devanagari script

Sir Howard Hodgkin, C.H., C.B.E. (b.1932)
Sotheby's New York, 6 October 1990, lot 215A
Sam Fogg, London
Christie’s South Kensington, 8 April 2011, lot 401

London 1999, p.60, no.21

In good overall condition, some slight rubbing, a few stains, as viewed.
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This miniature has many of the characteristics of the Mewar school during the reign of Maharana Amar Singh II (r.1698-1710): a restricted range of colours and carefully shaded monotone figures and animals, large principal figures with smaller attendants, landscape with rocky hillocks surmounted by small trees, and the division of the landscape into three longitudinal plains. Close parallels are to be found in Gahlin 2002, pp.44-45, no.26; Topsfield 1980, pp.60-61. no.57; Topsfield and Beach 1991, pp.62-63, no.21; Topsfield 2012, pp.234-5, no.100; London 1999, pp.60-61, no.38; Sotheby's, London, 17 June 1999, lot 39.

The style can also be related to that of the so-called Stipple Master, who was active at Udaipur from circa 1692 to 1715 (for a thorough discussion of the Stipple Master see Glynn in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, vol.II, pp.515-530; see also Topsfield 2002, pp.114-137). This drawing was first attributed to Mewar (probably by Toby Falk, see Sotheby's, New York, 6 October 1990, lot 215A), and then to Bikaner (London 1999, p.60, no.37) on the basis of a companion drawing attributed to Bikaner, circa 1690-1700 (Topsfield 1986, pp. 23 & 25, no.13, but which may also be Mewar), but is here attributed once again to Mewar.