Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 149. Maharana Bhim Singh of Mewar (r.1778-1828) feasting, with horse and shooting displays, attributed to Ghasi, India, Rajasthan, Udaipur, dated VS 1883/1825-26 AD.

Maharana Bhim Singh of Mewar (r.1778-1828) feasting, with horse and shooting displays, attributed to Ghasi, India, Rajasthan, Udaipur, dated VS 1883/1825-26 AD

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Auction Closed

October 27, 03:41 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

gouache heightened with gold on paper, wiith a narrow gold border, black, red and white rules, the margins decorated with gold flowerheads, inscribed on the reverse with thirty lines of descriptive text in black nasta'liq script, signed and dated in red by the scribe "Sayyid Ibrahim 'Ali in his hometown Delhi. Samvat 1883" (1825-26 AD), bearing Mewari inventory numbers '4/312' and a valuation of 'Rs.50' in the upper margin

painting: 42.8 by 25cm; leaf: 49.3 by 31.9cm.

Mewar Royal Collection.
Prof. R.A. Dara, London (d.1966).
Sven Gahlin, London (1934-2017).
Sotheby's London, The Sven Gahlin Collection, 6 October 2015, lot 75.

Spink and Son, Indian Miniature Paintings, 1987, p.96, under no.43.
Andrew Topsfield, Court Painting at Udaipur, Zurich, 2002, p.237, and footnote 137.

Maharana Bhim Singh (r.1778-1828) is depicted firing at red targets in a stream in the foreground of our painting. His son, Jawan Singh, and other noblemen stand beside him. After shooting, Bhim Singh is shown feasting seated under a floral canopy, surrounded by his noblemen, a red tent panel behind them.

The painting has been attributed to the Mewar painter, Ghasi. Ghasi was a highly accomplished artist who was employed by Maharana Bhim Singh (r.1778-1828) and responsible for several large and impressive court and architectural scenes in the 1820s and 1830s. He was recruited by the East India Company officer, Colonel James Tod during his residency in Mewar and accompanied him on his travels to make architectural drawings. He is mentioned in Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (first published 1829-32) and his architectural drawings made for Tod are now in the Royal Asiatic Society, London.

The long description of this painting on the verso is signed by Ibrahim 'Ali and states that it depicts Maharana Bhim Singh (the words Maharaja Adhiraj are part of his full title) with many others, their ranks and positions in the painting all named. It was presented to "His Most Holy presence" in Samvat 1883 (1825-6). Another long inscription by Ibrahim 'Ali is to be found on the verso of a further Udaipur painting by Ghasi now in the Ackland Art Museum depicting Maharana Bhim Singh at a hunting picnic (Topsfield 2002, p.236-7, fig.216). The gold-decorated borders on the recto and verso of the present painting are essentially Mughal in style and were probably attached in Delhi where Ibrahim Ali wrote his inscription.

For a historical survey of the artist's career, see Topsfield, op.cit., pp.234-250; and for other paintings by or attributed to Ghasi, see ibid., pp.235-7, col. figs.215-7; Turin 1985, p.29, no.28; Topsfield 1990, pp.68-73, nos.24-25; Sotheby's, London, 26 April 1994, lots 48-50; 23 April 1996, lot 55.