|
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s portrait to
auction at Sotheby’s
WSN Network
 Patiala: New York
auction house Sotheby’s will auction a rare and historic painting of
Maharajah Ranjit Singh on March 18.
According to Sotheby’s catalogue note, the portrait is likely
to have been painted during Ranjit Singh’s lifetime. It was possibly
the study for a lithograph that was widely reproduced in various
publications including Bibliotèque Universelle, Voyages en Asie,
1836.
The portrait signed as ‘L. Massard’ on the right hand side
below the Maharaja’s picture is expected to fetch around $8,000 to
$12,000 when it goes under the hammer on March 18.
The water colour-on-paper portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
was portrayed by the French artist Leopold Massard in 1830.
Born in
Gujranwala
on November 2, 1780, into a Sikh family of the Sukerchakia misl,
Ranjit Singh managed to extend his kingdom as far north as Ladakh
over Kashmir’s
Himalayan Range.
The Sukerchakia Misl was one of 11 Sikh Misls in Punjab during the
18th century. The Sukerchakia’s last Misldar (commander of the Misl)
was Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
This ‘Sher–e–Punjab’ is also known for owning the Kohinoor
Diamond and beautifying the Harmandar Sahib in
Amritsar.
He employed American, French and Italian officers in his army
some of whom , had fought in Napoleonic wars. The majority of his
subjects were Muslim, and they had an intense loyalty towards him
and his Sikhs. This was evident when the British Indian
Governor-General Lord Auckland asked the foreign minister of the
Sikh Empire, Fakir Azizuddin, a Muslim, which of the Maharaja’s eyes
was missing. He replied: “The Maharaja is like the sun, and sun has
only one eye. The splendour and luminosity of his single eye is so
much that I have never dared to look at his other eye.” Ranjit Singh
was scarred of ‘small pox’, which also blinded his one eye. After
his death in 1840, the Sikh Empire was divided into small
principalities that were ruled by several Sikh jagirdars. This weak
arrangement proved a good opportunity for the East India Company of
England
to put an end to the Sikh stronghold of the
Punjab in 1849.
This is not the first time items related to Indian royalty
have gone under the hammer. In year 2007, a bust of Ranjit Singh’s
son, Duleep Singh, was sold for £1.7m and then in 2008, a milk white
sculpture priced between £50,000 and £70,000 (Rs 45,00,000 and Rs
63,00,000) was internationally auctioned at Bonhams Indian and
Islamic sale on October 9 in
London.
Even Shah Jahan’s dagger was sold in April 2008 and the
inscribed spinel of Shah Jahan was earlier sold in October 2000 in
an International auction.
The auction of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s portrait will take
place in
New York on March 18, under the ‘Indian & Southeast Asian Art’s
Sale’
section.
18 March 2009
|
Read Also