MAHARANA SARUP SINGH DISPLAYING HIS MARKSMANSHIP


BY TARA (1828-1862), MEWAR, 1855 Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; verso inscribed in ink with five lines of devanagari, translated: "Maharana Sarup Singh with Sardar Paswan, Nathulal, Kaka Chanda, Dhari Singh, Tej Ram - holding a bundle of peacock feathers - and Uday Ram, by the painter Tara on the seventh day of December in the year 1855." Image: 8 x 12 in. (20.5 x 30.5 cm);Folio: 10 x 13 7/8 in. (25.4 x 35.2 cm)
|Surup Singh was famous for his exploits as a sportsman. This scene of him shooting an apple off the head of a statue, or a live ascetic (presumably named Uday Ram from the inscription), is perhaps one of the more unusual events recorded by Tara, the master painter at the Udaipur court. Compare with similar paintings of Surup Singh throwing a javelin, dated 1844-45, and shooting a suspended mobile target, dated 1846 (Topsfield, Court Painting at Udaipur, Zurich, 2001, pp.256-8, figs.228 & 231.) Provenance Collection of George Andrew Spottiswoode (1827-1899), London Thence by descent to the current owner