Ram Singh I of Kota Hunting at Makundgarh

This is the earliest known hunting scene painted on paper from Kota, and it is also one of the most visually dense depictions. The main protagonist is not the hunter but rather his prey, the lion climbing a tree and biting its trunk. This motif, taken from the repertoire of Bundi painting, together with the recognizable facial types, is evidence of the influence of the Hada Master. The complex and dense composition extends vertically up the page, as if the viewer is climbing the rugged terrain to the summit, where the picture’s climax, the death of the lion, is depicted. The Kota Masters cultivated a distinctive technique that deftly combines ink drawing and lightly applied color washes to great effect.

About the Artist
 
Masters of Early Kota
Active ca. 1660–1740

Painting from Kota between the middle of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century is very poorly documented, yet there are a handful of pictures bearing artist names, including Niju or Shaykh Taju. Stuart Cary Welch assigned the pictures from Kota and Bundi, all of them very similar in both style and subject matter — generally hunting or battle scenes — to three artists: the Master of the Elephants, the Kota Master, and Shaykh Taju. Milo Beach’s recent research has resulted in a different set of attributions. He recognized the Hada Master (active in Bundi and subsequently in Kota) and three styles from Kota set by individual artists whom he refers to as Artists A, B, and C. The B group shows the influence of the artist Niju.

Artists like the Hada Master had a major influence on the development of painting in Kota, in both style and content. For example, motifs such as the lion climbing a tree in Ram Singh I of Kota hunting at Makundgarh were prefigured in the repertoire of Bundi painting. Yet the technique is different. Short brushstrokes predominate, notably in the foliage, and also wet washes, as seen in the bushes in the background. A most unusual technique was used to render the water splashing against the hunting platform; there, the pigments were sprayed onto the paper rather than brushed. The faces, by contrast, are formulaic, and they can be traced back to late works of the Hada Master. Instead of occupying the foreground, the actual hunting scene is embedded in a detailed landscape.