
Dora Tan
Head of Sale, Specialist
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Sold for US$6,375 inc. premium
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Head of Sale, Specialist

International Director
With an encouraging smile a duenna unveils the gorgeous young lady before a ruler who raises his hands, inviting her for an early evening, horse-drawn jaunt across Kishangarh's famous Gundalao Lake. The painting's open landscape and fine, accentuated facial features are characteristic of Kishangarh miniatures in the second half of the 18th century. The ruler possibly represents Maharaja Bahadur Singh (1748-81) or Birad Singh (1781-88).
A closely related portrait, attributed to the master painter Nihal Chand, of Sardar Singh and his father is in the Cincinnati Museum of Art, illustrated and discussed by Navina Haider in Masters of Indian Painting II, Zurich, 2011, pp.603-5, fig.9. Also, see Rosemary Crill (ed.), The Indian Portrait: 1560-1860, London, 2010, no.39, where the carpet, cushions, pan tray, and flowers above the railing are very similar. And, compare an equestrian portrait of Fateh Singh in Indian Paintings and Manuscripts, Sam Fogg exhibition catalogue 21, 1999, no.46.
Provenance:
Sotheby's, London, 8 October 2014, lot 276