1999.290: Rao Raja Bhoj Singh of Bundi Slays a Lion

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1999.290

People

Attributed to The Kota Master, Indian

Title

Rao Raja Bhoj Singh of Bundi Slays a Lion

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting

Date

c. 1725

Places

Creation Place: South Asia, India, Rajasthan, Kota

Culture

Indian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/311081

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Black ink, watercolor, opaque watercolor and gold on off-white laid paper; Rajput Style

Dimensions

actual: 50.8 x 68.5 cm (20 x 26 15/16 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Stuart Cary Welch, Jr.

Accession Year

1999

Object Number

1999.290

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description

This painting depicts a dense jungle, in which Rao Raja Bhoj Singh of Bundi (r. 1585-1607) on the left, fires an arrow into the side of a large male lion. In the middle of a page, another large lion approaches. Both animals show their teeth and red tongues. Their large size emphasizes Bhoj Singh’s hunting skills. The Rao blends into the green tree, as he wears a green top and yellow trousers. Hanging from his belt is a sword and a large black shield. On the right, Bhoj Singh’s hunting party can be seen among the trees. Rajput Style.

Publication History

• Stuart Cary Welch and Milo Cleveland Beach, Gods, Thrones, and Peacocks Northern Indian Painting from Two Traditions, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1965), p. 77, fig. 31
• Milo Cleveland Beach, Rajput Painting at Bundi and Kotah, Artibus Asiae Publishers (Ascona, Switzerland, 1974), pp. 35-37; pl. LXXXI, fig. 86
• Martin Bernard Dickson and Stuart Cary Welch, The Houghton Shahnameh, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1981), pp. 233-234, figs. 283-284
• Stuart Cary Welch, "Return to Kotah", Essays on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Charles Kyrle Wilkinson, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, 1983), p. 84, figs. 9-10
• Stuart Cary Welch, India, Art and Culture, 1300-1900, exh. cat., Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1985), pp. 365-367, fig. 245
• Michael Brand, The Vision of Kings : Art and Experience in India, exh. cat., National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (New York, NY, 1995), p. 126, fig. 85
• Steven Kossak, Indian Court Painting, 16th-19th Century, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1997), pp. 62-63, fig. 31
• Mary McWilliams, "Welch Gift of Indian, Iranian, and Turkish Art to the Arthur M. Sackler Museum", Apollo, ed. David Ekserdjian, Apollo Magazine Limited (London, England, December 2000), vol. CLII no. 466, pp.12-14, pp. 13-14, fig. 6
• Stuart Cary Welch and Kim Masteller, From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, 2004), pp. 142-143, cat. 45
• Christine Temin, Fogg Shows Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, Spring 2005), p. 4
• Milo Cleveland Beach, Eberhard Fischer, and B.N. Goswamy, ed., Masters of Indian Painting, exh. cat., Artibus Asiae Publishers (Zürich, 2011), p. 460, no. 8; p. 465, fig. 8

Exhibition History

• India: From Tribe to Court, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 07/23/1981 - 07/23/1981
• Hot as Curry - Subtle as Moonlight: Masterpieces of Rajput Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/02/1991 - 12/20/1991
• Five Masters of Persian and Indian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/11/1992 - 03/09/1992
• From Infancy to Old Age, A Gallery of Indians, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/27/1993 - 04/25/1993
• Infancy to Old Age: A Gallery of Indians, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/27/1993 - 04/25/1993
• Indian Court Painting: 16th-19th Century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 03/24/1997 - 07/06/1997
• The Art of Kotah at Harvard, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/20/1997 - 11/30/1997
• A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 06/08/2000 - 09/03/2000
• From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from SCWelch, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/19/2005 - 06/02/2005
• Masters of Indian Painting, Museum Rietberg Zürich, Zurich, 04/30/2011 - 08/21/2011; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 09/26/2011 - 01/08/2012
• 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/05/2022 - 10/31/2022

Verification Level