A horse and groom, attributed to the Early Master of the Court of Mandi or his atelier, Mandi, circa 1650

gouache heightened with gold on paper

Kevin G. Delahunty, Stockley, Wiltshire
Acquired in 1972

Glynn 1983, p.44, fig.25 & pp.58-59
Glynn in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, p.410, no.25
Seyller and Mittal 2014, Pahari Paintings, p.85, footnote 2

In reasonably good overall condition, losses to painting edges, particularly to left and right hand sides, other creases and small paint losses, mostly to leaf edges, colours vivid, as viewed.
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This is an important painting attributed to "The Early Master of the Court of Mandi" (not to be confused with "The Master at the Court of Mandi") or one of his immediate colleagues by Catherine Glynn (see Glynn in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, vol.I, pp.409, 415 and 419, fig.10), who has described it as "a stunning study of the relationship between a man and an animal, powerful in its simplicity." (Glynn 1983, p.58).

The artist responsible for this highly accomplished painting has been identified as the major artist at the Mandi court in the mid-seventeenth century, responsible for introducing and developing a style directly influenced by Mughal painting (see Glynn 1983, Glynn 1995, Glynn in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.407-424). The present work compares closely to another horse portrait by the same artist in the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art, Hyderabad (see Glynn, op.cit., pp.410, 423, fig.16; Seyller and Mittal 2014, pp.84-85, no.27), but whereas the Mittal example displays characteristics of the evolved Mandi style, the present example is slightly closer in style to the Mughal models. A particularly close comparison (stylistically and in terms of the type of horse, its pose and its accessories) can be made with a Mughal example, a portrait of Dara Shikoh's favourite horse, Dil Pasand ("Heart's Love"), in a painting by Manohar datable to circa 1630 in the British Library (Johnson Album 3, no.1, see Falk and Archer 1981, pp.66, 372, no.55).

The present work dates from the reign of Raja Suraj Sen (r.1637-64), under whose patronage "The Master of the Early Court of Mandi" worked for almost his entire career and whose influence was no doubt conducive to the development of the atelier and style, which, however, had begun under his predecessor Raja Hari Sen (r.1604-37 or 1623-37).

For thorough discussions and illustrations of painting at the court in Mandi in the mid-seventheenth century and the work of the "Master", see Glynn 1983, Glynn 1995 and Glynn in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.407-424.