Kota - facets of a royal painter's studio
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04 Mar
06 Mar
2025
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Southasian Painting
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Joachim. K. Bautze
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Image: A lady being led to the bedroom by two friends at night. Kotah, ca.1740-80. 19,8 x 14,9; 14,9 x 10,8. Published: Sotheby’s. Bautze, Joachim: Die Welt der höfischen Malerei’ [a] /‘Katalog der Malereien’ [b], in: Rajasthan, Land der Könige, ed. Gerd Kreisel, Stuttgart: Linden-Museum in Zusammenarbeit mit Kunstverlag Gotha, 1995, pp. 123-80 [a], 273-9, 287-92, 295-306, 310-316 [b]; p.158, Abb. 141. Private collection.
The Kota style of painting or Kotakalam developed from the earlier Bundikalam from which it at times cannot be distinguished. Only during the last quarter of the 17th century, it became more distinct from the parental Bundikalam. During the late 1760s artists from Bundi created in Kota the most extensive Ragamala of about 251 folios in which the artists adhered to the templates of the so-called BostonBundi Ragamala, which is from Kota. After about 1725 the famous hunting scenes from Kota can easily be distinguished from those made for Bundi rulers. In contrast to Bundi, the rulers of Kota employed photographers from outside the state until the earlier decades of the 20th century.
Session I: From Rao Surjan of Bundi (r.1555-1585) to his grandson, Rao Ratan (r.1607-1631)
Session II: The elephants of Rao Ratan and the development of the ceiling frescoes in Bundi, Indargarh and Kotah
Session III: Early Kota painting under Raos Jagat Singh (r.1658-1683), Kishor Singh (r.1684-1696) and Ram Singh (r.1696-1707)
Session IV: Maharao Bhim Singh (r.1707-1720), and the tutelary deity of Kota/Nandgaon, Shri Brijnathji, under his successors
Session V: Two Kotah Ragamalas
Session VI: The hunting-scenes
Online Public Lecture on ZOOM
P.S: The Zoom link to join the lecture will be shared 24 hours prior to the talk.
Duration -
March 4, 5, 6, 2025
Timing: 6:30 - 8:45 pm IST
Fees
Rs. 3,000 (For student discounts registrations kindly email info@jp-india.org)
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Joachim. K. Bautze
Joachim. K. Bautze began studying Indian philology (i.e. Sanskrit) and art history at the Freie Universität of Berlin in 1973, where he completed his doctorate in 1982 with a thesis on wall paintings in Bundi. His habilitation followed in 1990. His f irst extensive trip to India started in early 1974, work in Bundi and Kota began in 1979 and has continued ever since. He taught Indian art history at universities in Heidelberg, Tokyo and Berlin, and curated exhibitions on Indian painting in Stuttgart, Dresden, San Francisco and Brussels.