Lot 116
A PORTRAIT OF A BEJEWELLED LADY
INDIA, RAJASTHAN, KISHANGARH, CIRCA 1790
Auction: 10 June 2026 from 14:00 BST
Description
pencil and watercolour on paper, with margin line, mounted
Dimensions
14.2cm x 9.5cm
Provenance
Formerly, collection of John and Berthe Ford.
R.E. Lewis Gallery, San Francisco.
Sotheby's New York, 19 September 2008, lot 214.
John Gilmore Ford (1928–2024) and Berthe Ford are renowned, Baltimore-based collectors of South Asian and Chinese art, specifically celebrated for holding one of the world's most significant private collections of Indian and Himalayan art. They donated over 200 pieces to the Walters Art Museum, which houses the dedicated John and Berthe Ford Gallery.
Footnote
This work presents an idealised profile portrait of a woman. Rendered with a wet brush and only lightly tinted, it exemplifies the distinctive Kishangarh style, noted for its exceptionally fine brushwork and the elegantly elongated, highly stylised eye. A closely comparable portrait can be found in the Edwin Binney III Collection (see W. G. Archer, Rajput Miniatures from the Collection of Edwin Binney III, Portland, 1968, p. 43, no. 29).