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Page from Motichand Khajanchi’s ledger annotating details of each work in his collection.
Image courtesy of the Khajanchi family
Cover of Karl Khandalavala, Moti Chandra, and Pramod Chandra eds.,
Miniature
Paintings from the Sri Motichand Khajanchi Collection
, New Delhi: Lalit Kala
Akademi, 1960
Motichand Khajanchi (centre) in Bikaner, 1974
Image courtesy of the Khajanchi family
collected several remarkable manuscripts, some of
which were later donated to the Rajasthan Prachya
Vidya Prathisthan.
Khajanchi’s collection came to light when the
art historian and museologist, Rai Krishnadasa,
who founded the Bharat Kala Bhawan at the
Banaras Hindu University, and was the father of
Khajanchi’s friend Anand Krishna visited Bikaner
and met Khajanchi and reviewed his collection. Rai
Krishnadasa, impressedwith the quality of theworks,
suggested that these be displayed in a museum to
benefit and educate the Indian public, rather than
remain inaccessible in his home. As a result of this
meeting, a selection of important paintings from
Khajanchi’s collection, curated by Karl Khandalavala
and Rai Krishnadasa, were exhibited at the Lalit Kala
Akademi in New Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta in
1960. “These are notable not only for their aesthetic
appeal, but also supply much useful material for
elucidation of various problems relating to the
chronology and development of certain schools
of Indian miniature painting.” (Karl Khandalavala,
Moti Chandra, and Pramod Chandra eds.,
Miniature
Paintings from the Sri Motichand Khajanchi
Collection
, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1960, p. 7)
The paintings in this exhibition were later donated
to the National Museum in New Delhi.
In1972, Khajanchi opened a jewellery andhandicrafts
store in Bombay. The most discerning collectors
and enthusiasts who patronised his store were
also drawn toward his larger, exquisite collection in
Bikaner. The store closed two years after Khajanchi’s
death in 1979. His son Narendra took the lead in
consolidating the collection and preserving his
father’s legacy. Many of his finest works that he had
never parted with, are now becoming available and
shall inspire newgenerations of collectors. Khajanchi’s
connoisseurship, especially of the Bikaner school
of miniature painting, is reflected in the range and
depth of the collection presented in this catalogue.