Important Notice

More Images

A striking image from the elephant folio edition of 36 plates. Plate no. 22 from Voyages dans L'Inde, Auguste Bry, Paris, 1850

The print of the present lot is a striking and expansive lithograph print from April 1842 that portrays the Maharaja of the Punjab, Sher Singh, and his retinue on a hunting expedition on elephants and horses and passing a group of ascetics in the vicinity of Lahore. While carrying swords, arrows, bows, and... A striking image from the elephant folio edition of 36 plates. Plate no. 22 from Voyages dans L'Inde, Auguste Bry, Paris, 1850

The print of the present lot is a striking and expansive lithograph print from April 1842 that portrays the Maharaja of the Punjab, Sher Singh, and his retinue on a hunting expedition on elephants and horses and passing a group of ascetics in the vicinity of Lahore. While carrying swords, arrows, bows, and banners, some members of the group mount elephants, horses, and a camel; others, attired in loincloths, trot alongside while also carrying weapons. Two ascetics holding horns are depicted in the lower right foreground, observing the procession. Lithographed from an original drawing by Russian artist and aristocrat Prince Alexis Soltykoff (occasionally referred to as Aleksandr Mikhailovich Saltuikov), the vibrant landscape is replete with ethnographic detail. From 1840 to 1846, Soltykoff travelled extensively throughout India. This image first appeared in Soltykoff's octavo-sized book Lettres sur L'Inde, which detailed his travels and featured 32 tinted plates for illustration. The particular subject was illustrated on Plate 22 of that book, which featured tones of black, white, and tan. Multiple reprints in octavo and folio sizes were produced by Auguste Bry, a Parisian publisher, among others, of these prints. This demonstrates the level of interest that Europeans and the British had in India, as well as the admiration that Soltykoff's engravings enjoyed among his contemporaries. This specific print originates from Bry's elephant folio edition, consisting of 36 tinted lithograph plates. It was originally published under the title Voyage dans l'Inde and was honoured with the grand gold medal of the Russian Emperor.

Soltykoff visited Lahore during a tumultuous period in Punjab history, which is perhaps alluded to by an individual man hanging from the gallows in the background. Following the demise of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, Lahore was engulfed in a tumultuous power struggle that culminated in the Sikh conquest of the city by Ranjit Singh in 1799. Sher Singh was the second child of Ranjit Singh, the inaugural Sikh monarch of the region and unifier of Sikh Punjab. Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, following a forty-year tenure, sparked a struggle for power between the Hindu Dogra brothers and the Sikh aristocracy. During the period of unrest, Sher Singh's tenure was brief, lasting only from 1841 until his violent demise in 1843. After protracted hostilities, the British intervened in the conflict in late 1845; by 1849, Lahore had been formally annexed to the British. The British and other Europeans were anxious to learn about India's highly developed and complex cultures, which were so dissimilar to their own, during the nineteenth century.

Prince Alexis Soltykoff (or Saltuikov), alternatively referred to as Aleksei Dmitrievich or Aleksandr Mikhailovich, was born into an affluent and influential family based in St. Petersburg. His art instructor was the eminent Russian painter Aleksandr Orlowski. In 1840, following a brief tenure in the Russian diplomatic service, he established his domicile in Paris. In 1841-1843 and 1845-1846, he embarked on two journeys to the Indian subcontinent from that location. Through his social networks, he gained access to the most esteemed members of British colonial society, and consequently, to a number of the Indian Rajas. He was a gifted draughtsman and writer, and his travel observations, which he documented in letters to one of his brothers, were initially published in France as Lettres sur L'Inde (1848). The engravings were published in large folio format by Auguste Bry in 1850, bearing the title Voyage dans l'Inde. A number of subsequent editions in octavo format were also published. 1853 saw the publication of Habitants de l'Inde, a collection of folio-sized lithographs by H Gache, another Parisian firm. Auguste Bry printed two folio editions of fifteen engravings plus a title vignette in 1859. Smith, Elder & Co., London, and Smith, Taylor & Co., Bombay published these editions under the title Indian Scenes and Characters.

Louis Henri de Rudder was a French lithographer and portrait painter specialising in historical and folkloric subjects. He was born and raised in Paris, where he ultimately settled down. In 1935, he made his Salon début as a student of Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet and Antoine-Jean Gros. He received medals in 1840 and 1848 and was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1863. Auguste Bry published his most renowned graphic works, a series of lithographs depicting Indian subjects based on illustrations by Prince Alexis Soltykoff. Numerous museums, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Versailles, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museée d'Orsay, and the New York Public Library, house the works of De Rudder.

Auguste Bry operated in nineteenth-century Paris as a lithographer and print publisher.

NON-EXPORTABLE

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site