ARTS OF INDIA

41
BALWANT SINGH OF RATLAM ENJOYING A NAUTCH
ATTRIBUTABLE TO KUSAL, RATLAM, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA
1830
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the young
maharaja sits on a carpet, he is being given fowers by two nautch
girls accompanied by three musicians, nobles and courtiers behind
him, each wearing an elaborated turban, on green ground, within
yellow, black and white rules and wide red borders
11¿ x 14in. (28.3 x 35.5cm.)
£4,000-6,000 $5,700-8,500
€5,000-7,500
PROVENANCE:
Acquired before 1991.
EXHIBITED:
Rajasthan: Land der Konige, Stuttgart, 1995
LITERATURE:
Gerd Kreiseil (ed.), Rajasthan: Land der Konige, Stuttgart, 1995,
abb.128, p.144
Another painting of young Balwant Singh, signed by the artist
Kusal was in the Heil Collection, published by Brendan Lynch,
Indian Paintings from the Heil Collection, text by J.P. Losty, exhibition
catalogue, 2016, cat. 41. Although the Heil painting shows the
prince within an arched building whereas the present picture does
not show any architecture, the prince is similarly surrounded by
his courtiers, tightly seated around him. The eyes of the fgures
are directed heavenwards, a stylistic indicator of the artist Kusal.
As Losty notes in his discussion of the artist, Kusal’s ‘rows of
tightly packed courtiers are never monotonous as he maintains a
wonderful rhythmic vitality in repetition’. Very few paintings are
known to have come from Ratlam. The court was closely connected
to that of Mewar, since Balwant Singh’s mother was a Mewari
princess and the daughter of Ari Singh.
42
EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF MADAN SINGH OF JALA
BUNDI, RAJASTHAN, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1835
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the maharaja
wears a diaphanous jama, pearl necklace and jewels, his prancing
horse wears jewelled trappings, his retinue carries the ceremonial
regalia, a city and a lake in the background, within gold, black and
white rules and red borders, identifed in black devanagari script on
reverse
11º x 8Ωin. (28.5 x 21.6cm.)
£2,500-3,500 $3,600-5,000
€3,200-4,400
PROVENANCE:
Bundi Royal Collection
Sotheby’s, London, 10 & 11 October 1991, lot 796
Inscribed on verso: jālā madan sīghjī
The inscription on verso identifes the rider as “Jala Madan Singhji”.
Madan Singh was the son of Rajarana Madho Singh, (1773-1834)
the Divan or Musahib-i-Ala (chief minister) of Kotah who inherited
this ofice from his father, Rajarana Zalim Singhji (1739-1824). Born
in Kotah in 1808, he assumed the title of Maharaj Rana and became
the ruler of Jhalawar in 1838, where he died in 1845. The inscription
does not mention the title of Maharaj Rana, hence our dating.
A portrait of Madan Singh was published as Maharaja Kanwar
Madhav Singh in Painting for the Royal Courts, Spink, London, 1976,
cat.30, p.11.
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