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MAHARANA SANGRAM SINGH
Lots 19‒21 in this collection depict Maharana Sangram Singh of Udaipur (r. 1710 ‒ 1734) engaged in
various activities. The Maharana was known to have been a shrewd and competent ruler with virtues
of rectitude, generosity and strict adherence to Rajput social behaviour. He is credited with additions
to the Jagmandir, as well as the Chini Mahal inside the City Palace, where blue and white tiles imported
by the Dutch from China were added to a courtyard. In 1711, he entertained a Dutch entourage, led
by J J Ketelaar which led to a number of unusual portraits of
firangi,
or foreign, visitors. His atelier
was characterised by the reinvigoration of the painting tradition. Artists broke away from illustrating
manuscripts to portraying scenes from the court and the Maharana’s personal life. “Sangram Singh’s
evident intention, as patron, was to build up a comprehensive documentary record of state occasions,
seasonal festivals as well as the daily pastimes of the Rana in his ancestral domains.” (Andrew Topsfield,
Court Painting at Udaipur: Art Under the Patronage of the Maharanas of Mewar
, Zürich: Artibus Asiae
Publishers, 2001, p. 158)
18
SEATED RAJA WITH ATTENDANT HOLDING FAN
JODHPUR, CIRCA 1750
Faintly inscribed in Nagari ‘Diwan rao saheb Amarchandji...’ at the
bottom
Gouache on paper heightened with gold
Image: 9.25 x 6 in (24.1 x 15.6 cm)
Rs 6,00,000 ‒ 8,00,000
$ 8,960 - 11,945
NON‒EXPORTABLE REGISTERED ANTIQUITY
PROVENANCE
The Motichand Khajanchi Collection