Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search
Previous Lot
Next Lot
A prince defending a maiden and a group of terrified sadhus from a group of hunters, perhaps Bhils, who approach a hermitage at night Provincial Mughal, Oudh, second half of the 18th Century image 1
A prince defending a maiden and a group of terrified sadhus from a group of hunters, perhaps Bhils, who approach a hermitage at night Provincial Mughal, Oudh, second half of the 18th Century image 2
A prince defending a maiden and a group of terrified sadhus from a group of hunters, perhaps Bhils, who approach a hermitage at night Provincial Mughal, Oudh, second half of the 18th Century image 3
A prince defending a maiden and a group of terrified sadhus from a group of hunters, perhaps Bhils, who approach a hermitage at night Provincial Mughal, Oudh, second half of the 18th Century image 4
A prince defending a maiden and a group of terrified sadhus from a group of hunters, perhaps Bhils, who approach a hermitage at night Provincial Mughal, Oudh, second half of the 18th Century image 5
Lot 212

A prince defending a maiden and a group of terrified sadhus from a group of hunters, perhaps Bhils, who approach a hermitage at night
Provincial Mughal, Oudh, second half of the 18th Century

Islamic and Indian Art
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £3,840 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A prince defending a maiden and a group of terrified sadhus from a group of hunters, perhaps Bhils, who approach a hermitage at night
Provincial Mughal, Oudh, second half of the 18th Century

gouache and gold on paper, laid down on an album page with gold-decorated floral borders; verso, a quatrain by Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr in nasta'liq written diagonally, 17th Century
painting 140 x 205 mm.; calligraphy 160 x 80 mm.; album page 307 x 240 mm.

Footnotes

Provenance
Formerly in the collection of I. Prevost, France [?] (handwritten label on reverse with collection numbers 260 and 350).

While the group of threatening hunters do not appear to be wearing leaf skirts, they are partially clothed and are working at night, both of which seem to be characteristic of the tribe, as portrayed in Mughal painting.

Edwin Binney III commented (of a work of 1760 produced in Oudh, by Faizallah): 'The Bhils were an aboriginal tribe in North India, whose nocturnal hunting habits and leaf skirts, like ballet tutus, fascinated late Mughal patrons desirous of local colour. Their 'foreigness' interested the sophisticated Indian art collector' (Indian Miniature Painting from the collection of Edwin Binney 3rd: the Mughal and Deccani Schools, Portland 1973, no. 100). For an example of Bhils hunting, by Faizallah, Oudh, circa 1760, see Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch, Indian Paintings from the Heil Collection, New York 2016, no. 29.

The calligraphic page verso is not written in the correct order as published (the second and third lines are the wrong way round).

Additional information