Live Auction 1203The India Sale
Equestrian portrait of Maharaja Kumar Sri Rai Singh (r.4-25 April 1787) as a young prince
Lot 111 REGISTERED ANTIQUITY - NON-EXPORTABLE

Equestrian portrait of Maharaja Kumar Sri Rai Singh (r.4-25 April 1787) as a young prince

BY ABU HAMID, INDIA, BIKANER, DATED VS 1811/1754 AD

Closed15 December 2015

Price Realised

INR 750,000

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Equestrian portrait of Maharaja Kumar Sri Rai Singh (r.4-25 April 1787) as a young prince
By Abu Hamid, India, Bikaner, dated VS 1811/1754 AD
Superbly painted with the ten-year old future Maharaja wearing striped pyjama, angharka and luminous turban, the white horse bedecked with silver armor and heavy brocade trimmed with golden tassels, rearing on the banks of a lotus pond in a hilly landscape, a battle raging in the distance, full red margin with inner white rules, a band of devanagri in the upper margin, outer yellow border, the reverse with devanagri inscriptions, ownership stamp and librarian's signature
Opaque pigments and gold on paper
10 x 7¼ in. (25.7 x 18.6 cm.), painting
13½ x 10 in. (34.5 x 25.5 cm.), folio

Royal Collection of Bikaner (no. 498), before 16 June 1964

Specialist note

The distinctive horse armour depicted in this painting is very closely related to that depicted in an equestrian portrait of his great-uncle Maharaja Sujan Singh of Bikaner (r. 1700-36). That painting is the work of the artist Ustad Qasim [probably the grandson of Ruknuddin, cf.Naval Krishna, 'The Umarani Master-Painters of Bikaner and their Genealogy, in Andrew Topsfield, (ed.), Court Painting in Rajasthan, (Marg vol.51, no.3), Mumbai, 2000, p.62] and dated to circa 1720. It was sold at Christie's Online Auction, India on Paper, 29 May - 12 June 2014, lot 533 (https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/india-on-paper/an-equestrian-portra it-of-raja-sujan-singh-r-1700-36-533/6634). It is also published by Catherine Glynn, 'Bijapur Themes in Bikaner Painting', in Andrew Topsfield (ed)., Court Painting in Rajasthan, Mumbai, 2000, no.7, p.72.