Maharaja Sital Dev of Mankot in Devotion

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Portraits of Maharajas were an important genre in painting from the hill states of the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth century. Most depict rulers in formal poses with servants proffering intoxicants: either pan (betel nut, lime, and spices) or tobacco smoked in a hookah. This portrait of a blind raja stands apart. Here, the raja is shown unattended and saying his rosary, a private devotional act. There is a rare poignancy in the artist's subtle characterization of pose and features. In view of the immediacy of the image, it is startling to learn that Sital Dev ruled about 1630\u201360, long before this image could possibly have been painted. Its style relates to the second phase of Basohli painting in the late seventeenth century, when earlier coloristic and decorative exuberance gave way to a more subdued palette and less dramatic juxtapositions of pattern. A Mankot provenance has been posited for the painting, but the nearby principality of Basohli is more likely for two reasons: the palette, particularly the soft buttery yellow of the background, and the more refined drawing style.

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