The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is introducing an exhibition of newly discovered Indian paintings from the royal court collection of Marwar-Jodhpur. “Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur” is currently on view until January 4, before continuing on an international tour through December 2009.
Marwar-Jodhpur, the largest of the former Rajput kingdoms (in the modern state of Rajasthan), was ruled by the Rathore dynasty, a princely caste of warriors who became great patrons of art in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries. Produced for the private enjoyment of the Marwar-Jodhpur maharajas, virtually none of the 60 works on view in “Garden and Cosmos” have ever been published or seen by scholars since their creation centuries ago. Strikingly innovative in their large scale, subject matter and styles, they reveal both the conceptual sophistication of the royal atelier and the kingdom’s engagement with the changing political landscapes of early modern India.
Marwar-Jodhpur court painters’ atelier developed two major aesthetic sensibilities that have been previously unrecognized. The dominant theme of Eighteenth Century painting was the garden, an idyllic landscape enjoyed by rulers and gods alike. In the Nineteenth Century, artists focused on evoking otherworldly spaces of a sublime and awe-inspiring cosmos.
The bold inventiveness of Marwar-Jodhpur artists is revealed through their creation of “monumental manuscripts” Thirty-three monumental folios, each a full-page painting approximately 4 feet in width, are featured in the exhibition. Like most north Indian court paintings, they are glowing and finely detailed opaque watercolors on paper, but their scale dramatically overturns typical expectations of Indian painting as a “miniature” art.
“Garden and Cosmos” is divided into thematic sections, with an introductory gallery about the kingdom of Marwar-Jodhpur and the origins of its court painting traditions in the Seventeenth Century.
The exhibition opens with an embroidered tent canopy from the Marwar ancestral collection. Exuberantly adorned on its interior with silk-embroidered blossoms on scrolling vines, the tent canopy recreates the virtual gardens that the maharajas enjoyed when they made camp in remote areas of the desert kingdoms while on military campaigns or religious pilgrimages. The floral pattern, which recurs on paintings throughout the “Garden” galleries, epitomizes the Marwar aesthetic of the garden.
Between the Thirteenth and the Seventeenth Centuries, the Rathore clan leaders transformed from regional rulers into cosmopolitan maharajas, or great kings. Five Seventeenth Century paintings track this transformation by revealing how the atelier brought together a local, spontaneous style and the sophisticated court style of the Mughal Empire (1526‱857) to create a uniquely Marwar-Jodhpur idiom.
A recently rediscovered cache of paintings reveal that the aesthetic of the garden emerged under Maharaja Bakhat Singh (1725‵1) at Ahhichatragarh Fort in Nagaur on the northern border of Marwar.
Bakhat Singh was an exemplary ruler, but his reputation was permanently stained when he murdered his father in order to gain the throne of Nagaur. At Nagaur, Bakhat Singh transformed the arid region into a garden paradise by rebuilding its palaces and creating a sophisticated water-harvesting system.
Eleven paintings accurately depict the architectural setting and express Bakhat Singh’s sensuous delight in the opulent garden-palaces. Many paintings also depict musical performances. Visitors to this gallery can experience similar Marwar court compositions that will be played continuously for the duration of the exhibition.
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is at 1050 Independence Avenue, S.W. For information, www.asia.si.edu or 202-633-1000.
