NAWAB SHUJA' AL-DAWLA IN PROCESSION

Shuja al-Dawla was the Nawab of Awadh from 1754 to 1775. He was probably the most admirable of the Awadh Nawabs moving his capital from Lucknow to Faizabad in 1765, and resisting the forces of the Marathas, the British and the Afghans, with his highly efficient armies, run on European lines. He was a committed patron of the arts and his flourishing cosmopolitan court attracted both Mughal and European artists, poets and adventurers.

Awadhi artists in the second half of the eighteenth century often employed a vibrant palette for textiles and architecture set against a darker ground. This is exemplified here with the luminous orange and gold caparisons on the elephant and horse against the cool grey of the soldiers’ uniforms, the gold streaked sky with rolling dark clouds, and the orange pavilions visible behind green hills. The use of perspective and the receding landscape displays strong European influence and also the inheritance of stylistic features from earlier Mughal paintings.

There is another painting in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, formerly in the collection of Sir Elijah Impey (1732-1809), depicting Nawab Shuja al-Dawla in procession with a lengthy cavalcade along the river Saryu in Faizabad (MS. Douce Or.a.3, f.4r; Topsfield, 2008, no.75, pp.158-159). The Bodleian Library painting is stiffer in comparison to the present painting with a more sober palette and limited use of perspective. For another comparable Awadhi painting depicting Nawab Shuja al-Dawla or perhaps the Mughal Emperor Shah ‘Alam II in procession in an extensive landscape, see Bonhams, London, 8 April 2014, lot 287.