A REST STOP ALONG THE WAY: AN ENTOURAGE STOPS AT A VILLAGE ATTRIBUTED TO SHEIKH TAJU

Sam Fogg Ltd., London
Acquired mid-1990's 

Surface abrasions and some stains. The four corners with restored areas in the four corners. Some wrinkling. Verso: restored areas with old repairs and patches visible. Conservation Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The entourage of a noblewoman stops to rest by a walled village enclosure.  She walks a bit with her companions - slowly stretching her legs and still a little shaken from the bumpy ride over the hills.  Her carriage and its oxen at rest.  A groom holds a saddled horse.  Inside the enclosure men converse and smoke huqqa's.  Chapatis are being made as a fire burns beneath earthenware vessels.  

This remarkable and vigorous ink drawing is attributed to the Kotah artist Sheikh Taju active during the reign of Maharao Durjan Sal (r.1723-56) and it contains many of the artist's characteristic mannerisms: thick bold line juxtaposed with highly detailed and delicate ink passages, penetrating psychological insight  toward his subjects (particularly here in the depiction of the ladies and the men smoking), complex compositions of views around the hillsides of Kotah and the numerous visible pentimenti, or corrected sections, often overpainted in white bodycolor which seem to become abstracted flourishes in their own right within the overall composition.

Another Kotah drawing attributed to Sheikh Taju the "Fort of Gagraun" previously in the Stuart Cary Welch Collection and now at the Fogg Museum at Harvard University (accession no. 2009.202.240) depicts the fort's battlements and accompanying figures set within a hilly landscape about 45 miles from Kotah.  An elephant fight - another specialty of Sheikh Taju - is viewable at the upper right corner there.  The "Fort of Gagraun" is a large drawing fragment, irregular in shape and executed on a type of rough natural/buff paper similar to our own study and is almost certainly from the same hand. 

For relatable works see S. C. Welch and K. Masteller, From Mind, Heart and Hand: Persian Turkish and Indian drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Harvard, 2004 cat. 48, 49 and 52. Also see S. C. Welch, Gods Kings and Tigers: the Art of Kotah, New York, 1997, for a discussion of Kotah paintings and drawings by Sheikh Taju, his older collaborator the Kotah Master, and the patronage of Maharao Durjan Sal.