Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
A polychrome painted wood ceiling, Central India, mid-19th century
Auction Closed
October 26, 12:30 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
comprising 8 wooden panels each painted in polychrome, the interstices and centre decorated with cusped ogival medallions filled with scrolling roses, fruit and peacocks, armorial bearings and vases filled with fruit above and below flanked by winged ladies all reserved against a red ground of flowering plants issuing fruit and supporting birds and flying monkeys, secured with a central carved boss and narrow borders and beading
8
395 by 194cm.
The exact origin of this elaborately painted ceiling is unknown but the confronting elephants seen in the coat of arms appear on the arms of the Maratha princely states of Dewas and Dhar. The presence of the 'VR' monogram on the soldier's saddlecloth indicates that it was painted during the reign of Queen Victoria (r.1837-1901).
The peris or angels seen supporting the coat of arms appear in Mughal miniatures and derive from Islamic and European prototypes that would have reached the Mughal court via Persian artists and Jesuit missionaries. With the decline of the Mughal empire during the eighteenth-century artists migrated to the provinces resulting in the dissemination of this imagery. Similar winged ladies are found around the doorway of the durbar hall at the Maratha Palace in Thanjavur, on the walls of the Juna Mahal at Dungarpur and in the murals of Nagaur fort in Rajasthan.