India, Deccan, Hyderabad, 18^th century. Watercolors, gouache, and gold on paper. Depicting two elephants engaged in a vicious battle with their trunks intertwined, each surmounted by a crowned kinnari with spread wings and holding elephant hooks (ankusha). Framed within yellow and orange bands.

Provenance: His Exalted Highness, the Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan (1886-1967), personally gifted to Dr. Mallanah Shrinagesh, Hyderabad, India. Thence by descent to Dr. Shrinagesh’s daughter Shakuntala Hartog (1924-2006). Thence by descent to her widower Rudolf Hartog (1924-2018). Thence by descent in the family to the last owner. Dr. Mallanah Shrinagesh was the personal physician to H.E.H. Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, the last Nizam of the Princely State of Hyderabad, the largest state in the British Indian Empire, who reigned from 1911 to 1948. The paintings were a personal gift by the Nizam to Shrinagesh, given during the 1930s as compensation for his work. They decorated the walls of the doctor’s apartment in the court at Hyderabad. His daughter Shakuntala inherited the pieces and brought them with her when she moved with her husband Rudolf Hartog to Germany. Shakuntala and Rudolf Hartog both wrote several books about India, published in Germany.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and little soiling. The frame with light scratches and minute nicks.

Dimensions: Image size 30.7 x 21.8 cm, Size incl. frame 37.8 x 30.2 cm

Framed behind glass. (2)

The elephant is central to Indian culture, and Indian artists have for centuries captured the elephant in painting, sculpture, textiles, and rock-cut reliefs. The relationship between man and elephant in India developed in many contexts, from the jungles and the wild to the temple and the court, where elephants were trained and used in the army, hunts, rituals, and ceremonies. The beloved elephant god Ganesha appears in daily life, from a twelfth-century Chola bronze image, which would have been carried in religious processions, to the annual Ganapati festival where images of the deity are immersed in water.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related miniature depicting a battle of two elephants at the court of Sha Alem in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Compare a related miniature depicting two elephants fighting in a courtyard before Muhammad Shah, dated c. 1730-1740, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number 2005.1.a.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 11 April 2014, lot 92
Price: GBP 11,875 or approx. EUR 21,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A princess on horseback amidst rampaging elephants, Hyderabad, deccan, first half 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the related subject. Note the transparent pigments and smaller size (26 x 19.5 cm).