A large painting depicting the observation of Muharram, attributed to the artist Sewak Ram

Patna, early 19th Century

Footnotes

Provenance
Private UK collection: acquired by the seller's father and in the family home since at least 1960.

While Muharram is the first month of the Islamic lunar year, it also refers to the period of fasting and mourning observed in that period, to mark the martyrdom of the Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed at the Battle of Kerbala (AD 680). Not only are there public displays of mourning, but the story of the martyrdom is retold constantly, culminating in large processions in which the mourners inflict pain on themselves as penance and as an expression of grief, while drawing along highly-decorated tazias or floats (for a painting of this subject done at Murshidabad, see M. Archer, Company Paintings: Indian Paintings of the British Period, London 1992, p. 81, no. 42(4)).

The Patna artist Sewak Ram, who was painting there by around 1790, is also known to have depicted various aspects of this subject, including one work showing the procession with crowds of celebrants and onlookers, dated in English to 1807 (illustrated in M. Archer, op.cit., pp. 85-86, no. 49). Eight large related paintings were sold at Sotheby's, 14th June 1954, and were dispersed between the V&A, the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, and the British Library. The version in the British Library (Add. Or. 18) is illustrated in Archer, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London 1972, p. 105, no. 68 (i), col. pl. C. This version has a great many more lamps hanging from the ceiling, a much darker backdrop, and more of the celebrants standing than in our painting. Sotheby's sold a work, which they dated to 1807-19, of the same subject, from almost the same viewpoint (see Sotheby's New York, Important Indian Miniatures from the Paul F. Walter Collection, 14th November 2002, lot 55). In the Walter painting the tent and awning are an attractive dark blue and the congregation stand on a blue and white striped floor-covering. More sky is also revealed, unlike our painting which has a much larger awning spreading across almost all of the upper part of the composition. But the characteristic, almost vivid olive green appears in both (as it does in the work illustrated in Archer mentioned above; as does too the distinctive twist of the body seen in so many of the figures, most of whom stand as in the British Library painting).

The same composition more commonly appears in mica paintings, for which Patna was well-known - see, for example, one of a group sold in these rooms, Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 9th June 2014, lot 335.