Miniature pasted on cardboard. ‘Maharaja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur’
India, Marwar; mid-18th century
Miniature: 38 × 52.5 cm
Inventory number 19/1981
This large miniature is a posthumous portrait of Maharaja Ajit Singh (1707-1724), his sons, and his court. The Great Mughal Aurangzeb refused to recognize him as the heir to the throne when he was a child, but after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, he became one of Rajasthan’s mightiest Hindu princes, who at times served as the Mughals’ viceroy in western India and at others was their adversary.
Here we see him in a palace garden set in a lush park. The formal water garden, with flowerbeds, canals, and fountains, and the palace and its pavilions form a slightly awkward framework for the main scene. The simplified, two-dimensional style, with clear, intense colors, is typical of much of the painting from Rajasthan.
Here we see him in a palace garden set in a lush park. The formal water garden, with flowerbeds, canals, and fountains, and the palace and its pavilions form a slightly awkward framework for the main scene. The simplified, two-dimensional style, with clear, intense colors, is typical of much of the painting from Rajasthan.
Published in
Published in
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no. 56;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 210;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 80;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 120;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 210;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 80;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 120;
