ARTS OF INDIA

46
RAO JAGAT SINGH OF KOTAH HUNTING
BOAR
KOTAH, RAJASTHAN, NORTH INDIA,
SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper,
the lively hunt depicting Jagat Singh wearing a
gold wrapped turban accompanied by an older
courtier on horseback, slaying and spearing a wild
boar attacking a footman, two dogs follow the
boar, indication of a rocky landscape to the lower
right corner, on green ground, with white, yellow
and black rules, modern red borders
8√ x 12√in. (22.7 x 32.8cm.)
£3,000-5,000 $4,300-7,100
€3,800-6,200
PROVENANCE:
Acquired before 1991.
Rao Jagat Singh of Kotah (r.1658-82) was very
keen on hunting. Another closely related portrait
of Jagat Singh attributed to the Hada Master
of the Kotah school and dated to circa 1660 is
currently on loan to the Metropolitan Museum
(John Guy and Jorrit Britschgi, Wonder of the
Age: Master Painters of India, 1100–1900, no.48,
pp. 103-6). A famous portrait of Ram Singh I of
Kotah hunting a rhinoceros, also on loan to the
Metropolitan Museum, is dated circa 1690-1700
(Milo Cleveland Beach, Mughal and Rajput
Painting, Cambridge, 2002, fg.127, p.167).
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MAHARANA ARI SINGH II HUNTING
WILD BOARS
UDAIPUR, MEWAR, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA
1760-70
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper,
the maharaja rides a stallion with gold trappings,
wearing diaphanous robes, he spears a wild boar,
another boar topples a footman over, on green
ground with high skyline, within black rules
and red borders, the reverse with text in black
devanagari script
11Ω x 16√in. (29.2 x 42.8cm.)
£3,000-4,000 $4,300-5,700
€3,800-5,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired before 1991.
For a closely related hunting scene with
Maharana Ari Singh II of Mewar (r.1762-72) dated
1762 see Andrew Topsfeld, Court Painting at
Udaipur, Zurich, 2001, no.182, p.201. Hunting was
a dangerous pastime: Ari Singh was later killed
by the ruler of neighbouring Bundi state while out
hunting.
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