Maharana Ari Singh (1761-73) shooting a tiger

Attributed to the Mewar artist Jiva
Udaipur, dated 1761-62

Opaque watercolour with gold on paper; inscribed in Rajasthani in Nagari script with the details of the event and the date of receipt into the royal collection as Samvat 1818 Jyestha sudi 15

25.3 by 46.7 cm., 10 by 18 ½ in. page; 20.8 by 42 cm., 8 ¼ by 16 ½ in. miniature

The Maharana crouches with four companions, including Rao Ram Chand, Raja Ragho Dev and the attendants Sambhu Das and Laksmi Das, in a small tower in the forest shooting at a tiger who has been lured by the tethered buffalo. The tiger is depicted twice, once mauling its prey and again rearing after being shot in the centre of its forehead. The scene is by night with the full moon rising over the nearby lake.

While as Topsfield indicates (Topsfield, A., Court Painting at Udaipur: Art under the patronage of the Maharanas of Mewar, Zurich, 2002, pp. 198-201), the quality of painting in Ari Singh’s reign (1761-73) falls in favour of quantity, much of it repetitious, this painting from the very beginning of the reign rises very much above the general norm.

It is distinguished particularly by its dramatic landscape. It is remarkable for its alternation of dark and light groups of leaves interspersed with tall feathery plants, all clinging to misty grey-green rocks. This is a calling card of the artist Jiva to whom is also attributed a similar picture of Ari Singh hunting bear now in Melbourne (Topsfield, Andrew, Paintings from Rajasthan in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1980, no. 165), an attribution based on an inscribed painting by Jiva of a tiger hunt of Jagat Singh II’s reign dated 1749 (Topsfield, 2002, fig, 172).

Provenance

Mewar Royal Collection
British Rail Pension Fund, acquired 1970s
Sold, Sotheby's, London, 26 April 1994, lot 42
Private collection, U.S.A., 1994-2010

Published

Sotheby's, Indian Miniatures: The Property of the British Rail Pension Fund, London, 26 April 1994, p.53, lot 42