Maharao Ram Singh of Kotah ruled from 1826 until 1866. His rule faced increasing turmoil as the British increasingly interfered with the politics of the state. Despite this, he was a keen patron of the arts and perhaps the last great patron of Rajasthani court painting. Ram Singh was particularly interested in his artists recording his day-to-day exploits whether they be official court ceremonies and processions or his pastimes including numerous hunting scenes. It is also notable that many of these paintings are in a large format like the present lot.
The Kotah school of painting is well known for tiger-hunt scenes, since at least the 18^th century commissions of Maharao Umed Singh (1771-1820). The large scale and complicated composition illustrated in the present lot is typical of the style. In the present example, the Maharao is safely aboard a lake boat, after successfully piercing a tiger with his rifle’s bullet. Scores of attendants are camouflaged into the forest with spears, ready to assist in the less protected aspects of the hunt. The reverse of the painting is inscribed,
“ this is a picture of the great King of Kings, the great King, the great Rao, the honorable Ram Singh, hunting in the Karay. Assisted by His Highness Shri Darbar in the first boat, the second boat with courtesans, the third boat with the entertaining drum orchestra.”
A very similar painting of Maharao Ram Singh on an aquatic hunt sold recently at Christie’s London, 25 April 2024, lot 108, for GBP 81,900. The present example, however, is executed in much finer detail, particularly as it pertains to the lake boats and landscape. The two paintings also appear to represent different seasons in the hunt, the present lot exhibiting a much fuller forest, with lush trees and bushes, and the London example with a more barren landscape.
Another similar painting of a tiger hunt of Ram Singh dated circa 1830-40 is in the Cleveland Museum of Art (acc. no. 1991.168). Although smaller than the present lot, both paintings show the Maharao shooting a tiger against a steep rocky backdrop from his boat with a very similar treatment of the figures and vegetation. The Maharao’s boat accompanied by a group of smaller vessels – including some carrying dancers and musicians – is found in the Cleveland paintings as well as another painting of Ram Singh II at the Gangaur Festival in the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia (acc.no.580).