1995.89: Maharana Bhim Singh of Mewar Returns from a Boar Hunt

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1995.89

People

Attributed to Chokha, Indian

Title

Maharana Bhim Singh of Mewar Returns from a Boar Hunt

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting

Date

c. 1810

Places

Creation Place: South Asia, India, Rajasthan, Mewar, Mewar at Udaipur or Devgarh

Culture

Indian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/310593

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Opaque watercolor, gold and silver metallic pigment on paper

Dimensions

27.9 × 38 cm (11 × 14 15/16 in.)
framed: 43.5 × 57.5 × 2.2 cm (17 1/8 × 22 5/8 × 7/8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift in gratitude to John Coolidge; Gift of Leslie Cheek, Jr.,; Anonymous Fund in memory of Henry Berg; Louise Haskell Daly, Alpheus Hyatt, Richard Norton Memorial Funds and through the generosity of Albert H. Gordon and Emily Rauh Pulitzer; formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, Jr.

Accession Year

1995

Object Number

1995.89

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

The painting depicts Maharana Bhim Singh of Mewar (r. 1778-1828) returning from a boar hunt with his attendants and retinue. The haloed king is mounted on a caparisoned horse holding a pig-sticking spear. He wears a green jama, or robe, that is associated with aheria, or the spring hunt, when boars are hunted in Rajasthan. According to Rajasthani tradition, it is believed that the outcome of aheria fortetold the fruitfulness of the kingdom for the year ahead. Bhim Singh's had a successful hunt, alluded to by the several slain wild board strapped to the backs of the camels leading the procession. At the bottom corner of the image are two members of the hunting retinue with Saluki hounds, which were commonly used during boar hunting for stalking, chasing, and, at times, killing. A facloner is also present among the procession.

The attendants carry the necessary royal attributes: two attendants carry fly whisks while one holds a sun-faced standard, which accompanies any Mewari royal procession. The sun is a symbol of the Mewar royal family who believed that they were descendants of it.

This painting was executed before Bhim Singh became the first maharana of the Princely State of Udaipur.

Publication History

• Elizabeth Finch, ed., Rajasthani Miniatures: The Welch Collection from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, exh. cat., The Drawing Center (New York, NY, 1997), page 24
• James Cuno, ed., A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Mass., Spring 2000), p. 39
• Christopher Reed, "Art of the Hunt", Harvard Magazine, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, May-June 2005), vol. 107/no. 5, p. 47

Exhibition History

• The Grace of White: Indian Paintings and Objects, 16th-19th Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/23/1994 - 09/29/1994
• Indian Harvest: Part 2, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/17/1996 - 04/28/1996
• Rajasthani Miniatures: The Welch Collection at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, The Drawing Center, New York, 04/16/1997 - 06/07/1997
• A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 06/08/2000 - 09/03/2000
• The Sport of Kings: Art of the Hunt in Iran and India, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2005 - 06/26/2005

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