Company School

Painting of Two Ducks (with Persian Inscription)

19th century India

Watercolour on paper

29cm high, 18cm wide

Provenance: UK private collection since the early 1990s

Exceptionally finely painted, these studies provide a wonderful celebration of the natural world’s capacity for exquisite pattern and delicate colouration.

The Eurasian Widgeon appears with a chestnut head, creamy crown and deep hazel eyes. Buff feathers delineated with soft tawny bands run from chest to flank. The back and marginal coverts are exquisitely decorated with wavy black lines, while the rest of the wings comprise of brown, black and white hues. These large dabbling ducks may be found across Eurasia, favouring northern climes for breeding and the warmth of Southeast Asia and Central Africa during the winter months. Occupying wetland habitats, such as marshes, they dabble for aquatic plants or graze vegetation on land.

Immediately below is a charming and intriguing study of a black-headed duck, with dashes of ‘forget me not’ blue from the top of the beak to the crown. The deep hazel eyes stand out against an outline of white feathers. A thicker band of white forms a semi-circle around the eyes, creating a distinctive and extremely elegant pattern. This is further accentuated by a vivid wash of electrifying teal on the bird’s cheeks. Grey feathers along the nape of the neck appear to cascade down into creamy and deep brown lobes, which run along the underside of the bird. The wings are auburn with the speculum demarcated by a further wash of exquisite teal. Rendered with such fine brushstrokes, the soft texture of the feathers is almost palpable. As this species is currently unknown, it may signify that the bird has become extinct since the painting was undertaken. Sadly, habitat decline and hunting have eradicated certain breeds of Indian ducks, a recent notable example being the pink-headed duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea), which has not been sighted since the 1950s. The Persian inscription beside the wigeon reads “نریچ (chīran)” or “یریچ (chīrī)” and is numbered “94”. The bird below is numbered “95”. At the top of the folio appears the page number “132”.

C.H.

Equestrian Portrait of Rao Ram Singh I of Kota

c. 1700 Kota, India

Ink, heightened with white and with some wash on paper 33.5cm high, 34cm wide

Provenance: King Gustav Adolf VI of Sweden, inventory no. 542

This is possibly a portrait of Rao Ram Singh I of Kota who reigned from 1696 to 1707.There is another drawing that is identified as Ram Singh in the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum in Hyderabad that sports similar features (see reference below). The other drawing is not as delicately detailed as this charming sketch which is very carefully drawn with an array of exquisite details. The horse is a real tour de force as is the carefully rendered costume of the ruler. The delicate hairs of the horse’s mane fanning out and the scarf wrapped around Ram Singh’s shoulder swinging behind him give a sense of swift movement to the drawing. Ram Singh’s hand holding the reins is treated with great delicacy and the elephant head on the pommel of the saddle is simply exquisite. The artist has added some white pigment to the face of the rider, giving it a naturalistic look. White pigment also highlights part of his garment while his turban is wholly white. Ochre is used to enhance the silhouette of the face and a pinkish wash has been added to the saddle blanket giving more naturalism to the whole, thus enlivening the drawing. Although facing to the left, a painting contemporary to ours in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (B86D13), depicting Maharaja Anup Singh of Bikaner and dating from the last quarter of the seventeenth century, has a similar feel and pose with the ruler on horseback holding a lance. In our drawing the end of the lance has been torn away. A similar horse is also seen in a Deccani painting “A Mounted Prince holding a Falcon” in the David Collection, Copenhagen (13/2015) which also dates from the same period.

See also Andrew Topsfield and Jagdish Mittal, Rajasthani Drawings in the Jagdish and Kamla Museum of Indian Art Hyderabad: Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art, 2015, no. 42, pp. 96-97 (76.635).

The drawing bears the stamp reading: “Udaipur Wala Mewar” in the centre with “Nur MD Ibrahim Silver Merchant” around the border. R.J.D.B.