The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah with Maharaja Raj Singh of Kishangarh and five other courtiers, attributed to Dalchand, India, Rajasthan, Kishangarh, circa 1730

Christie’s London, Islamic, Indian and South-East Asian Manuscripts, Miniatures and Works of Art, 24 November 1987, lot 84

Dr. Mark Zebrowski, London, (1944-99)

Private Collection, London

Dr. Mark Zebrowski was an American historian of Islamic and Indian art who moved to London in the 1970s. He first visited India in 1967 as a member of the Peace Corps, and taught English at a school in Karimnagar, south-central India. This placement introduced him to the artistic heritage of the country, and he went on to study in Paris at the Musée Guimet and then at Harvard University. His ‘Deccani Painting’ thesis (1983) remains the standard reference for the subject forty years later. He wrote two further books, ‘Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India’ (1997, another landmark work on the subject), and (with George Mitchell), ‘The Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates’ (1999).

M. Zebrowski, Gold, Silver & Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1997, pp. 72-73, pl.54

A. Jackson and A. Jaffer, Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts, London, 2009, p.42, no.28

M.C. Beach, E. Fischer, B.N. Goswamy (ed.), Masters of Indian Painting, 1650-1900, Zurich, 2011, p.564, no.10, illus. on p.575, fig.10

H. Pauwels, Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-Century India – Poetry and Paintings from Kishangarh, Studies in Asian Art and Culture, Vol.4, Berlin, 2015, p.66, plate 1

Maharaja: The Spendour of India’s Royal Courts, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 10 October 2009 – 17 January 2010; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, 12 February - 23 May 2010

This royal group portrait depicts Muhammad Shah, the thirteenth Mughal Emperor (reign 1719-48) and the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I, seated on a gem-set throne on a riverside terrace, surrounded by six of his courtiers. These include two important Rajput rulers - Maharaja Raj Singh of Kishangarh (r.1704-48) standing before the Emperor, and Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Amber (r.1709-43) standing directly behind him. The officers standing to the right of Raj Singh are Khan Dauran, the Mir Bakhshi and Amir-ul-Umara (the head of imperial nobility and the commander-in-chief of the Mughal army during the reign of Muhammad Shah), dressed in a white jama; beside him stands Qamaruddin Khan, Muhammad Shah’s wazir or prime minister, in a crimson jama. The figures holding flywhisks to the left of Maharaja Jai Singh are of lesser importance – the younger officer is Bakhshi Zafar Khan, and the older officer with the grey beard is Sayyid Taqi Bahadur. The inscriptions in black devanagari on gold ground identify all the figures. The scene probably depicts an occasion of gift-giving. Muhammad Shah holds a bejewelled turban ornament in his hand which he has either received from or is about to bestow upon Raj Singh. It is noteworthy that the Rajput rulers have been depicted in more prominent positions than Muhammad Shah’s high-ranking officials. 

This impressive painting has been attributed to Dalchand, one of the most important Mughal court painters from the first half of the eighteenth century. Active between 1710-60, Dalchand was known particularly as a portrait painter, for his unique compositions of group portraits with royal subjects, and for his depictions of court events. Dalchand trained as an artist at the royal court in Lahore under the patronage of Prince Muhammad Mu’azzam. He moved to Delhi around 1707 with his father Bhavanidas, who was also a well-known artist, to work for the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah I. Dalchand spent most of his later career in Rajasthan, initially at Jodhpur and later at Kishangarh where he relocated around 1728 to join his father who had moved there about a decade earlier.

This is probably one of the earliest works Dalchand painted in Kishangarh under the patronage of Maharaja Raj Singh. Terence McInerney has suggested that it was probably painted around 1730 (T. McInerney, ‘Dalchand’ in Beach, Fischer, Goswamy (ed.), Masters of Indian Painting, 1650-1900, Vol. II, Zurich, 2011, p.573). Raj Singh had a penchant for depicting his close relationship with the Mughals. He was the nephew of Emperor Bahadur Shah I, and the cousin of Prince ‘Azimushshan who was Bahadur Shah’s favourite son, hence expected to become the next emperor. It is therefore not surprising that another of Dalchand’s first commissions from Raj Singh was a painting of Bahadur Shah I in a similar setting, seated on a golden throne on a riverside terrace, holding a jewelled aigrette, with Prince ‘Azimushshan standing before him (ibid., p.564, illus. on p.574). The painting is dated to circa 1730-5. Following ‘Azimushshan’s untimely death, Muhammad Shah took over the throne and ruled as emperor during most of Raj Singh’s reign. Muhammad Shah was on extremely friendly terms with the Kishangarh family. The present group portrait boldly affirms Raj Singh’s political allegiance to Muhammad Shah and to the Mughal court.

This painting also illustrates Kishangarh’s close relationship with the Amber court. Raj Singh’s son, Savant Singh, is known to have served briefly in Jai Singh’s army in 1716. Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Amber spent a large part of his life as an imperial general at the Mughal court. His military abilities were given recognition and he was appointed governor of important provinces such as Agra and Malwa. In 1713, the Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar awarded him the title of Mirza Raja Sawai, the term Sawai meaning ‘one and a quarter’, signifying a higher status than other Rajput rulers. Jai Singh remained a strong ally of the Mughals until 1733-34. He distanced himself from the Mughal court, soon after this group portrait would have been painted, when he negotiated a treaty with the Marathas on behalf of the Mughals in 1733 which Muhammad Shah subsequently failed to honour (Jackson and Jaffer 2009, p.42).

The painting primarily depicts a political gathering, however, it also attempts to illustrate the cosmopolitan culture at Kishangarh in the first half of the eighteenth century. Maharaja Raj Singh was very aware of the artistic and intellectual developments taking place at the Mughal court. Khan Dauran, standing beside Raj Singh, was a poet himself and sponsored well-known Urdu poets such as Mir Taqi Mir. Bakhshi Zafar Khan is known to have held grand weekly majlis gatherings to which he invited mystics, saints, singers and musicians. It is very likely that Raj Singh and his son, Savant Singh, would have been present at these assemblies, thus being exposed to the latest literary tends in poetry and music in Delhi. For further discussion on this subject, see Pauwels 2015, pp.65-8.

Although it is the royal subjects that are the focus of this work, the patterned textile canopy above the Emperor held aloft with gold rods and painted with a pair of Birds of Paradise flanking a central solar motif, the magnificent gem-set throne, and the brilliant red carpet with scrolling floral vines laid on the terrace are also noteworthy and exemplify Dalchand’s style of painting. The textile canopy appears to have been based on one of Dalchand’s father’s earlier paintings. A genealogical durbar scene depicting four sons and two grandsons of Shahjahan seated on a terrace, signed by Bhavanidas and dated to circa 1700-15, painted while he was still at the Mughal court, has a very similar canopy with Birds of Paradise and a radiating sun. Although observed in other Mughal paintings of the time, it was a motif often favoured by Bhavanidas (see N. Haidar, ‘Bhavanidas’ in Beach, Fischer, Goswamy (ed.), Masters of Indian Painting, 1650-1900, Vol. II, Zurich, 2011, fig.2, p.535). The platform-type throne, with its profusely jewelled and enamelled panels, on shortened Mughal baluster pillar form legs, thought to be the famous Peacock Throne by some scholars, has been compared to a gold throne in the collection of the Topkapi Sarayi Musezi in Istanbul (inv.no. H735; illus. in Zebrowski 1997, no.55, p.73). Zebrowski had suggested that it is highly likely this particular throne of Muhammad Shah was part of the loot sent by the Persian ruler, Nadir Shah, to Istanbul (ibid., p.71-5). The two centrally domed polygonal incense burners in the foreground, supported on little legs with finials at the corners and with attached chains to enable carrying them around, are accurate depictions of sixteenth and seventeenth century Mughal metalwork. A very similar sixteenth century, North Indian brass incense burner now in the British Museum in London (inv.no. 1992 7-15-1), is illustrated in Zebrowski 1997, no.151, p.124. The forms are based on Mughal and Deccani funerary tombs of the period, with pierced domes to allow smoke to escape and gently perfume the area around the Emperor.

The figure of Maharaja Raj Singh in the present painting is closely comparable to a portrait of the ruler standing on a riverside terrace with a view of royal barges in the background, attributed to Bhavanidas and dated to circa 1728, illustrated in Haidar in Beach, Fischer, Goswamy 2011, fig.9b, p.539). A further drawing of Maharaja Raj Singh seated on a terrace leaning against a bolster, receiving a nobleman, attributed to Dalchand and dated to circa 1730-40, is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (acc.no.2013-68-11). For a discussion on Dalchand and a list of important inscribed works, as well as works attributed to the artist including the present work, see McInerney in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.563-78.

A slightly earlier equestrian portrait of Maharaja Bakhat Singh of Nagaur, attributed to Dalchand, painted in Jodhpur or Nagaur in Rajasthan circa 1725 under the patronage of his brother Maharaja Abhai Singh (r.1724-48), which was formerly in the Sven Gahlin Collection, sold in these Rooms on 6 October 2015, lot 57.

For a painting depicting Maharaja Raj Singh celebrating Holi, which is attributable to Bhavanidas, also painted in Kishangarh and dated to circa 1725-35, see the following lot in the present sale.