A favourite falcon of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota, attributed to Nainsukh of Guler, Jasrota, dated 1737

gouache on paper, inscribed on the verso in takri script: 'samata 13 pakka te ale pra[vishte] 7 basara pakadeya kudoa(?) hai di akh ti subha.'

Percival Chater Manuk (1873-1946) and Gertrude Mary Coles (1884-1946), Patna, Dehra Dun and London
Dr William George Archer, O.B.E., (1907-79) and Dr Mildred Archer, O.B.E. (1932-2005), London
Maggs Bros. Ltd., London
Acquired in 1967

Seyller and Mittal 2014, pp.158-160, 162, fig.7

In good overall condition, minor water stain to lower right corner, as viewed.
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This magnificent portrait of a falcon is dated in an inscription on the reverse 1737 and has been attributed to the Pahari master Nainsukh while at the court of Jasrota (see Seyller and Mittal 2014, pp.162 and 164, fig.6). It is one of a discrete group of raptor portraits attributed to Pandit Seu and members of his family from circa 1730 to 1780, the majority dating from the 1730s. Seyller and Mittal propose that Pandit Seu of Guler introduced the rulers of Jammu and Bandralta, enthusiastic followers of falconry, to raptor portraits. His sons Manaku and Nainsukh took up the genre and developed their own distinctive styles within it (Seyller and Mittal 2014, pp.158-173).

The inscription on the reverse has been read and gives the date of 1737, and mentions that a falcon (basara) has been captured and hooded. The word basara in the inscription may indicate the Besra Sparrowhawk (Accipiter virgatus) a raptor resident over the whole of the Subcontinent, although in fact the bird in the present portrait does not especially resemble it, having a different pattern of markings on the plumage.

Both this portrait of Balwant Singh's falcon and the study of his swords (see lot 94 in this catalogue), both attributed to Nainsukh, give the impression of having been made for private consumption. A quick, small sketch in the top left corner of the page leads to a completely confident, spontaneous and lifelike rendering of the bird, more alive and real than the hawks on wrists of members of the court in Nainsukh's more formalized portraits (e.g. Goswamy 1997, p.107, no.29, p.119, no.35).

Nainsukh of Guler was without doubt one of the greatest artists of Pahari painting. He was born in Guler around 1710, the son of Pandit Seu and the younger brother of Manaku. He was trained in Guler under his father until the late 1730s, when he moved to Jasrota, a small state bordering Jammu, and worked first for Mian Zorawar Singh and then Balwant Singh, both enthusiastic patrons of painting. After the latter's death in 1763, Nainsukh moved to Basohli, painting for Balwant Singh's nephew Raja Amrit Pal. His style is marked by a precise, elegant calmness and aesthetic harmony. His subjects never appear ruffled, even when engaged in dangerous and energetic pursuits such as hunting (e.g. Goswamy 1997, pp.146-151, nos.49-51), and yet they remain full of character and pathos (e.g. Goswamy 1997, p.221, no.85). For the most extensive recent research on Nainsukh see Goswamy 1997, and Goswamy and Fischer in Beach, Goswamy and Fischer 2011, pp.659-686. 

Percival Manuk (1873-1946), to whom this painting belonged, was the leading barrister and a high court judge in Patna, and formed a large and important collection of Indian miniatures. On his death he bequeathed the larger part to be divided, in 1949, between the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Other miniatures were dispersed at auction and through the London bookdealers Maggs Bros. Ltd.