Maharana Sangram Singh hunting

Object Details

• Court

  Mewar Court

• School/Tradition

  Rajput school

• Label

  While most royal portraits interweave the king's role with his physical appearance, this painting unravels the equivalence of the king, the body politic, and the kingdom. Distinguished by a gold halo and riding a dark horse, Sangram Singh enacts ideal kingship by demonstrating his hunting prowess in the midst of his realm. Multiple images of the ruler, his companions, his falcons, and the unfortunate heron capture the hunt's minute-by-minute action as does their zig-zag process across the landscape. To be clearly recognizable, all are depicted as if seen from straight on.

  The details of the hunt-its courtiers and servants, a tented palanquin signifying the presence of a court lady, a village and its temples, the tilled fields and low hills--all contribute to the portrayal of the ruler as the embodiment and cause of his flourishing kingdom.

• Provenance

  The Maharana of Udaipur [1]

  To 1992

  Terence McInerney Fine Arts Ltd., New City, to 1992

  From 1992

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Terence McInerney Fine Arts Ltd. in 1992

  Notes:

  [1] This object is part of a group of paintings sold by the Maharana of Udaipur and viewed in Switzerland in 1972.

  Two additional works in this group were previously acquired by the Freer Gallery with a letter from Douglas Barrett, former Keeper of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, attesting to their presence in Switzerland in 1972 (see Curatorial Note 5, Milo C. Beach, in the object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Falcons: The Art of the Hunt (January 15 to July 17, 2022)

  Facing East: Portraits from Asia (July 1 to September 4, 2006)

  The Natural World in Indian Painting (September 4, 1996 to May 17, 1997)

  South and South East Asian Art (May 9, 1993 to February 7, 2000)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Terence McInerney Fine Arts, Ltd. (active 1990-2013)

• Origin

  Udaipur, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1720s, 1730s

• Name

  McInerney, Terence

• Place

  Udaipur, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Hunting, Sisodia dynasty (861 - 1947), Maharana, Portraits, Falconry, Falcon

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings