AN INDIAN MINIATURE PAINTING OF BAZ BAHADUR AND RUPMATI HUNTING, MUGHAL India, 18^th century. Watercolors and gold on paper. The two lovers on horseback trotting side by side and looking toward each other, wearing light robes and elaborate headdresses, each with a halo, a falcon perched on Baz Bahadur’s gloved hand. The upper margin with a short inscription in nasta’liq.

Provenance: From an English private collection.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, soiling, staining, foxing, and creasing, few minuscule losses, possibly microscopic touchups.

Dimensions: Image size 30 x 23 cm, total size 42.5 x 35 cm (including frame). Mounted and framed behind glass.

The romantic tale of Baz Bahadur and Rupmati was a popular theme in Mughal painting. Baz Bahadur was the last independent ruler of Malwa in the mid-sixteenth century. He fell in love with Rupmati, a shepherdess and singer who he chanced upon one day while out hunting. When Malwa fell to the Mughal armies of Emperor Akbar, Rupmati killed herself rather than be taken.

Auction result comparison: Compare a related Mughal Indian miniature painting, also dated to the 18^th century and with a similar depiction of Baz Bahadur and Rupmati, at Sotheby’s London in Art of Imperial India on 8 October 2014, lot 248, sold for GBP 8,125. Compare also a related Mughal Indian miniature painting depicting a nobleman on horseback with a falcon, dated to the late 17^th century, at Sotheby’s London in Arts of the Islamic on 22 April 2015, lot 156, bought-in at an estimate of GBP 25,000-35,000.