Important Notice

One of the earliest sculptors to look outside Europe for inspiration, Sir Jacob Epstein was known primarily for his portrait sculptures and monuments. Born in 1880 in New York, he forayed into sculpting in 1899 under George Grey Bernard. He went to Paris in 1902, studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the Academie Julian. Three years later, he moved to London and became a British citizen. Epstein came into contact with leading contemporary... One of the earliest sculptors to look outside Europe for inspiration, Sir Jacob Epstein was known primarily for his portrait sculptures and monuments. Born in 1880 in New York, he forayed into sculpting in 1899 under George Grey Bernard. He went to Paris in 1902, studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the Academie Julian. Three years later, he moved to London and became a British citizen. Epstein came into contact with leading contemporary artists in the following decade, including Picasso, Brancusi and Modigliani. His representational sculptures stood out as particularly remarkable in a time of Cubism and abstraction.

After 1916, Epstein lived and worked in London for the rest of his life, exhibiting frequently at the Leicester Galleries. His sculptures include those of Rabindranath Tagore (1926), Albert Einstein (1933), Jawaharlal Nehru (1948), and the Maharaja and Maharani of Baroda, among others. The present lot, most likely commissioned by the Royal Family of Baroda, successfully captures Maharani Sita Devi's regal expression and poise, through her calm, steady gaze, arched eyebrows, and pursed lips. Epstein was owed ?? 2,000 for the work he had done for her. ("Letter from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean," 5 October 1952, Copyright: The Estate of Sir Jacob Epstein, Tate Archive, online)

According to Epstein, "Intellectually it [sculpture] requires a far greater effort of concentration to visualize a work in the round... in carving there is absolute finality about every movement. It is impossible to rub out and begin again." Epstein used 'direct carving', where "the actual process of carving suggests the final form rather than a carefully worked out preliminary model." (tate.org, online) In 1953, he was honoured with a retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London, by the Arts Council, and knighted the following year. His major public sculptures are to be found in London, Oxford and Coventry in England, and in Wales.

Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda

Sita Devi was the daughter of the Maharaja of Pithampuram. As one of the most flamboyant and controversial figures of her time, she "redefined societal roles by leading a gregarious and thoroughly unconventional life on entirely her own terms." (Abhishek Poddar and Nathaniel Gaskell eds., Maharanis: Women of Royal India, Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing in association with Tasveer Arts, 2015, p. 79) Sita Devi was initially married to the Zamindar of Vuyyur. When she met Maharaja Pratapsinh Gaekwad of Baroda, also married, at the Madras Race Course, they both fell in love and sought a way around the "religious and legal norms" to marry each other. "While Sita Devi converted to Islam in order to divorce her first husband and reconverted to Hinduism to marry the Maharaja, he and his lawyers cleverly argued against the British who sought to squash the wedding on the basis of the Baroda state law against bigamy passed by Sayaji Rao III, by noticing that state laws did not apply to the ruler, only to his subjects. The couple made a splash in salons in Europe, and at a time when most maharanis photographed usually had their heads demurely covered, Sita Devi was often seen posing with her hair thrown back so as to best showcase her jewellery, or smoking a cigarette at social events in a holder-also studded with rubies." (Poddar and Gaskell eds., p. 79)

Following World War II, the couple travelled to Europe. They built a resplendent mansion in Monaco, a French principality that had survived the onslaught of war, and settled there. Copious amounts of treasures from the Baroda state were transferred to their new home. When India attained independence in 1947, the princely states acceded to the Indian Union, and several valuable pieces from the royal treasuries had to, by law, be transferred to the treasury of the Government of India. As they attempted to sort the personal jewels and state-owned treasures of the Gaekwad of Baroda, Maharani Sita Devi transferred many jewels into her own name. She refashioned several of her jewels into new pieces designed by the world's leading jewellers, including Van Cleef & Arpels and Harry Winston. Her glamorous lifestyle faded in the 1950s, when she and Maharaja Pratapsinh Gaekwad divorced. Maharani Sita Devi passed away in 1986 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

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