Fair overall condition. With losses to paper on extremities of image all clearly visible in catalog illustration. The image has a red folio border not visible in catalog illustration. Distress and cracking to green ground is visible in catalog illustration. Two pinholes in haunches of the elephant are also visible in catalog illustration. The painting has been lightly laid down on a backing paper. The oranges are slightly light in reality. This lot is exhibited in a temporary frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A raja holding a long silver elephant goad with both hands, riding a bull elephant caparisoned with henna, gold bells, jewelry, ornaments and streamers.  The nobleman is dressed in a yellow striped payjama under a diaphanous skirt.  A katar (fist dagger) tucked into his floral sash.  His sword and shield behind him.  The jhoola (saddle cloth) a brilliant vermillion with rows of small white flowers, displaying the distinctive green stem with curving cross-leaf design, so often seen in paintings from the atelier of Wajid (Pasricha 1982) and is one of his signature motifs.  Though the painting is uninscribed, he most resembles Thakur Mohan Singh of Isarda, or may otherwise be an idealized Kachwaha nobleman, riding to the colorful Elephant Festival in Jaipur city at the start of Holi.  

The artist Wajid was active at Isarda a small thikana (fiefdom) of Jaipur.  It is probable that he🤪 led a quite active workshop given the numerous works in notably differing styles and tactile quality, which bear attributions to him.  Our painting iꦿs a powerful visualization, with dramatic color and composition, executed in a highly confident hand, and is likely from the brush of the master himself.

Examples of related large works, attributeꦓd to Wajid, often have si𒅌milarly damaged or missing red borders with thick black inner marginal lines.  Another quite similar example to our present painting, from the Sven Gahlin Collection, was offered at Sotheby's London, October 6, 2015, Lot 63.

Refer to Indar Pasricha, Painting at Sawar and at Isarda in the Seventeenth Century, Oriental Art XXVI, 1982; and Stella Kramrisch, Painted Delight, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1986 p. 88, no. 81.

Other examples attributed to Wajid are in the British Library Collection (accession no. ADD.OR.5259-5261) and in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, see Darielle Mason (ed.), Intimate Worlds: Indian Painting from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection, Philadelphia, 2001, pp. 118-119.