PRAYERS AND RECITATIONS AT THE MUHARRAM FESTIVAL, CIRCLE OF SEWAK RAM, PATNA, INDIA, CIRCA 1820-30

watercolour on thick paper, black borders, framed

41.5 x 58cm (image)

Provenance: Private Collection, London, acquired Christie's, London, 11 October 1979, lot 6

Sewak Ram was the best known of a number of artists from Murshidabad who moved to Patna in the late 18th century to take advantage of the growing wealth of the city as a trading and manufacturing hub. He produced sets of paintings of Indian life, including trades and occupations as well as festivals, as here, the best known of which were produced for Lord Minto and Lord Amherst. Examples of these groups can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum and British Library, London. The latter are particularly notable for their large format and crowds of figures each given individualistic treatment. For an example from the Minto Collection, see Mildred Archer, 'Company Paintings: Indian Paintings of the British Period', London and Ahmedabad 1992, no.49. Muharram is a Shi'a festival commemorating the death of Imam Hussein at Karbala (A.D. 680) which became a popular subject in Company School paintings of the region.