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Emperor Farrukhsiyar Being Paraded in a Palanquin
Attributed to the Kota Master C
Not on view
In 1713, the ruler of Kota state in Rajasthan Rao Bhim Singh journeyed to Delhi to offer his congratulations on the accession of Emperor Farrukhsiyar. The events witnessed there presumably inspired this palanquin scene by a Kota master. The work marks a new development in the Kota school, a movement away from the Bundi-inspired landscapes to a reassertion of older conventions, the use of flat washes of dense color on an undifferentiated ground; the effect is as strong as it is compelling. A tilted perspective affords a detailed description of emperor, attendants, and palanquin bearers alike. A preliminary drawing or study for this painting, probably based on events observed during the Kota ruler’s diplomatic visit to Delhi, has been identified.
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.
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