Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 264
Rao Shatrujit of Datia (reg. 1762-1801) riding on an elephant in an extensive procession with noblemen and attendants Datia, circa 1800
8 April 2014, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £5,000 inc. premium
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Rao Shatrujit of Datia (reg. 1762-1801) riding on an elephant in an extensive procession with noblemen and attendants
Datia, circa 1800
Datia, circa 1800
gouache and gold on paper, yellow border with stylised floral motifs, in mount
203 x 306 mm.
203 x 306 mm.
Footnotes
The elderly Rao Shatrujit is depicted riding in procession seated in the royal howdah, surrounded by a multitude of courtiers, ranging from noblemen, in the distance on other elephants, to soldiers bearing guns, spears and royal insignia, as well as musicians. Another figure, possibly a holy man, is carried in a palanquin.
Datia, in the region of Bundlekhand, central India, was home to a rich court culture, closely allied to the Mughals since the reign of Jahangir. Often grouped with paintings from neighbouring Orchha, the Datia school is known for its landscapes executed in naturalistic tones and its tall figures with small heads, flat turbans and large, almond-shaped eyes.
Other portraits of Rao Shatrujit are in the National Museum, New Delhi, dated circa 1780. A comparable example of the Datia style may be found in a page from a dispersed Satasai of Bihari in the Bellak collection, depicting Krishna holding up Mount Govardhana, dated circa 1770.
See:
Stella Kramrisch, Painted Delight: Indian Paintings from Philadelphia Collections, Philadelphia 1986.
D. Mason (ed.), Intimate Worlds: Indian Paintings from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection, Philadelphia 2001.
P. Bubbar, Sublime and Seductive: Indian Miniature Paintings from the 14th to the 19th Century, London 2008.