Raja Anand Dev of Bahu seated examining a hawk, with two attendants, attributable to a master of the early Bahu School, Bahu (Jammu), circa 1690-1710

gouache heightened with tooled gold and silver on paper, inscribed in white above on the recto, in takri script, reverse with old collection label '22c' and further label 'H. Kevorkian Collection 1368'

Hagop Kevorkian, New York (1872-1962)
Hagop Kevorkian Fund
Sotheby's, London, 7 April 1975, lot 178

In good overall condition, two minor creases, very minor losses to leaf edges, as viewed.
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This is an important and aesthetically striking early portrait of a ruler of Bahu. The painting as a whole is very close in style to other Bahu portraits of the period, including one of Kripal Dev (Seattle Art Museum, 51.53, see Goswamy and Fischer 1992, p.83, no.28; Kossak in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, vol. II, p.498, fig.7) and one of Anand Dev (Goswamy and Fischer 1992, p.85, no.29). The mannered style of the face in the present work can be compared to the faces of Radha and Krishna in a forest scene of circa 1690 (Archer 1973, vol.2, p.244, no.6). The main figure in the present portrait, despite the stylisation, bears a close resemblance to portraits identified as Raja Anand Dev. The closest facial comparisons are in two portraits in the Victoria and Albert Museum and one formerly in the Archer Collection, all datable to circa 1690-1700 (see Archer 1973, vol.2, p.132, nos.1,2, 4(ii)).

The master responsible for this portrait could either be the artist termed by Kossak the "First Bahu Master" (the first master of the Shangri Ramayana) or a close colleague. The exact identities of the earliest artists at Bahu is a complex subject, but Kossak has suggested that the earliest and most complete illustrations in the so-called Shangri Ramayana are by an artist whose career ended about 1695, while other illustrations in that series and those of other early Bahu sets and portraits may be by other masters, whose careers overlapped with the "First Master" (see Kossak, op.cit, pp.491-500). The start of Anand Dev's reign falls within the career of the "First Bahu Master", making him a possibility for the present work, but it is also possible that another master was responsible. Either way, the present work stands out as an exceptional portrait of the period.

Raja Anand Dev was the ruler of the Bahu branch of Jammu state from circa 1690 to 1715, after which Bahu and Jammu came under single rule. Until they were united in about 1715, rival branches of the ruling family had their capitals on either side of the Tawi river, Bahu on the left bank and Jammu on the right.