A GODDESS WITH A FEMALE SAINT AND ACOLYTES, NORTH DECCAN, RAJASTHAN OR PAHARI, LATE 17TH-EARLY 18TH CENTURY

This is an unusual and important miniature. In a handwritten note on the back of the mount Cary Welch suggested that the artist of this work could be the 'Aurangabadi master' who moved to Kishangarh under the employment of Raj Singh of Kishangarh (r.1706-48) (see lot 18). However, the figures in the present work also have similarities to Mewar work of the mid to late 17^th century, particularly in the illustrated copy of the Ramayana made for Rana Jagat Singh of Mewar between 1649-1653 (see Losty 2008), while some faces bear a slight resemblance to Bikaner work of the same period, and the flared side-burns of the male figures relate to other Rajasthani schools, such as that of Marwar. At the same time, there seems also to be a link to Pahari work, particularly in the face of the goddess, the crown and some of the male figures, which seem to anticipate to a certain extent the style of Guler/Kangra in the third quarter of the 18^th century. Thus this miniature epitomises the interesting and enigmatic nature of the different schools and traditions of Indian painting in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, in which the movement of artists and patrons from region to region created complex webs of stylistic interrelation.