Lot 111
A NAUTCH PERFORMANCE BEFORE A NAWAB
IN THE STYLE OF SITA DAS, INDIA, FAIZABAD, CIRCA 1770
Auction: 10 June 2026 from 14:00 BST
Description
gouache on paper heightened by gold, within a red border, the scene depicts a seated Nawab wearing white jama over pink and gold pantaloons, holding a flower wand watching the performance before him, a female attendant standing to the left wearing light blue robes and waving a morchal, to the right five nautch dancers and musicians dressed in brightly coloured robes of green, orange, blue, white and mauve with gold trimming, mounted, glazed and framed
Dimensions
18.5cm x 24.5cm
Provenance
Herbert Rieser Gallery, London, 1950s.
Formerly private collection, Yorkshire.
Footnote
Sital Das, a close contemporary of the artist Bahadur Singh, was active in Oudh during the reign of Nawab Shuja ud-Daula (r. 1754-1775). Lucknow was the accepted centre of power in Oudh but Shuja ud-Daula's family appointed by the Mughals were often at odds with the local Lucknow dignitaries. Although Faizabad, about 125 kilometres to the east of Lucknow, was rather underdeveloped at the beginning of this period, it soon became an important city with the help of Mughal officers, working under the nawabs, building beautiful and elegant residences and gardens. An ideal setting to develop a school of painting.
For further references and comparisons see: S.C. Welch, Room for Wonder Indian Painting during the British Period 1760-1880, HAMSO, London, 1979. no 34; Sotheby's, Fine Oriental Miniatures, Manuscripts, Qajar Paintings and Lacquer, Sotheby's, 24 April, 1979, lot 44; T. Falk and M. Archer, Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, London, 1981, pp. 20 and 136, nos. 251, 252, 290, 291, 351, 352 (vi, ix,xii,xiv,xvii) and 354; Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings, from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, pp. 617, 660-661, no. 6. 236, and; Exhibition Catalogue, Sanne Grundberg, The Dance and the Divine, The Bengt and Lilavati Hager Collection of Indian, Southeast Asian, Chinese and Japanese Art, June 2015, no. 9.