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අඩේ දැනුයි දැක්කෙ අහවල් දෙක එකට

ඇතුලට බස්ස ගෙන නේද...
උඹ කියනකං ඕක මම දැක්කෙ නෑනෙ
හිතා ගන්න බැරුව හිටියෙ මූ මේ දාපු පින්තූරෙ තේරුම මොකක්ද කියල
A ruler, perhaps Maharao Ram Singh (reg. 1827-66) hunting a tiger on horseback, his mistress in the saddle beside him
Kotah, circa 1835-40
gouache and gold on paper, yellow border
277 x 210 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Professor Conrad Harris.
See S. C. Welch,
Gods, Kings and Tigers: the Art of Kotah, 1997, p. 203, no. 63, for Ram Singh playing polo, in a painting dated 1838. However, a drawing featured in Francesca Galloway,
Indian Miniatures from the James Ivory Collection, London 2010, pp. 76-77, no. 25, has a similar notable (described as a prince rather than the Maharao) in a more sedentary erotic embrace with his mistress, in which both have the pointed and curved eyes deriving from Kishangarh painting.
Conrad Harris was Professor of General Practice at Leeds University, a post from which he retired in the late 1990s. His particular interest was Chinese pottery, ranging from Neolithic examples to the those of the great later dynasties. He gained a Diploma in Asian Art from the British Museum, and was an active member of the Oriental Ceramics Society. Much of his collection was offered for sale by Bonhams recently in our Knightsbridge rooms (see Asian Works of Art, 28th July 2020, lots 80-135). As we see from the group of lots offered in the present sale (lots 123-160) he was also interested in all types of Indian painting.
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Post added on Sep 5, 2025 at 3:46 AM