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拍品专文
In this painting from nineteenth-century Rajasthan, an elephant is shown elegantly caparisoned with golden-belled belts and jewelry and chained by his hind leg. The elephant is illustrated with precision and adoration through fine linework and delicate shading. His tusks are adorned with gold rings and his head is decorated with bright red and orange pigment. A rider rests between the elephants ears, his size paling in comparison, highlighting the grandeur of the elephant and suggesting the wealth and power of its owner. Elephants were celebrated subjects within Mughal and Rajasthani court painting. They represented kingship and played a crucial role in battles and hunts, as well as in entertainment with the sport of elephant fighting.
A distinctive local style of painting developed in Sawar towards the end of Pratap Singh's reign (r.1668-1705) which continued under his successor, Raj Singh (r.1705-1730). This small state in Rajasthan, established during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1604-28), is situated in the south-east corner of the Ajmer region, virtually on the borders of Amber, Bundi and Mewar. Bundi and Kotah were the closest major courts and there is definitely an affinity between Sawar elephant drawings and those of Kotah, as can be seen between our example and an early eighteenth-century Kotah study of an elephant's head in the collection of Howard Hodgkin (G. G. Filippi, Indian Miniatures and Paintings from the 16th to the 19th century - The collection of Howard Hodgkin, Milan, 1997, no 51, p 100). See also two masterful drawings by Shaykh Taju in the Rao Madho Singh trust Museum, Fort Kotah, dated circa 1730 (Stuart Cary Welch (ed.), Gods, kings and Tigers, The Art of Kotah, New York, 1997, cat.24, p.126 and cat.27, p.130-131). Compare this painting with another elephant portrait, likely from the same series, which sold at Christie's London, 25 May 2017, lot 37 for 12,500 GBP.
A distinctive local style of painting developed in Sawar towards the end of Pratap Singh's reign (r.1668-1705) which continued under his successor, Raj Singh (r.1705-1730). This small state in Rajasthan, established during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1604-28), is situated in the south-east corner of the Ajmer region, virtually on the borders of Amber, Bundi and Mewar. Bundi and Kotah were the closest major courts and there is definitely an affinity between Sawar elephant drawings and those of Kotah, as can be seen between our example and an early eighteenth-century Kotah study of an elephant's head in the collection of Howard Hodgkin (G. G. Filippi, Indian Miniatures and Paintings from the 16th to the 19th century - The collection of Howard Hodgkin, Milan, 1997, no 51, p 100). See also two masterful drawings by Shaykh Taju in the Rao Madho Singh trust Museum, Fort Kotah, dated circa 1730 (Stuart Cary Welch (ed.), Gods, kings and Tigers, The Art of Kotah, New York, 1997, cat.24, p.126 and cat.27, p.130-131). Compare this painting with another elephant portrait, likely from the same series, which sold at Christie's London, 25 May 2017, lot 37 for 12,500 GBP.