Raja Kripal Dev of Bahu Smoking

early 18th century

Fanned by a peacock feather that defies the picture’s borders, the Raja, or king, of the Indian state of Bahu (Jammu) sits propped up against a red cushion and calmly smokes a hookah. Though stylized, the individual features of the curling mustache and the mark on the forehead reveal the work to be a portrait painted from life.

Watercolor

8 3/8 x 11 1/16 in. (21.3 x 28.1 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

51.53

Photo: Paul Macapia

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles County Museum, "Art of Greater India," (1950)

San Francisco Museum of Art, "Art in Asia and the West," (1957)

Gainesville, University of Florida, University Gallery, "Miniatures and Small Sculptures from India," (1966), cat. no. 57

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Luminous: The Art of Asia", October 13, 2011 - January 8, 2012

Published References"Art of Greater India," cat., Los Angeles County Museum, (1950), no. 117, fig. 117

"Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 37 (b&w)

Archer, W. G. "Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills: A Survey and History of Pahari Miniature Painting." London: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications Limited, 1973, pp. 82-83, no. 28; pages 329-330

Goswamy, B. N. and Eberhard Fischer. "Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India," in Artibus Asiae, Supplementum, Vol. 38, Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India (1992), pp. 3-13+15-27+29-57+59-73+75-93+95-125+127-147+149-163+165-187+189-209+211-237+239-265+267-305+307-365+367-391; pp. 78, 79 (detail), pp. 82,83, no. 28 (illus.)

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