A TINTED DRAWING OF A TRADITIONAL NORTH INDIAN RED-HOODED TONJON PALANQUIN
Possibly Benares, India, ca. 1880 - 1900, attributed to Madhu and Beni Prasad

Opaque pigments and ink on European watermarked lined paper, the horizontal-format design sketch presenting a typical Tonjon palanquin with a foldable metal thread-embroidered red velvet cover and a sumptuous fluted seat showcasing a tiger attacking a bull against a dense ground of foliage and rose sprays, at the front a standing crowned celestial creature with wings, possibly an apsara, to each side a long pole for the bearers to lift the palanquin, with several annotations in Devanagari script both on the recto and verso, pasted onto a thin white cardboard frame, 17.2cm x 32cm.

Two almost identical design sketches of a red and a blue-hooded Tonjon palanquin, once part of the eminent Indian art scholar Stuart Cary Welch's collection, now belong to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (inv. no. 2011.31.8 and 9). These tinted drawings together with twenty others showcasing various furniture designs typical of the North Indian tradition originally belonged to Stuart Cary Welch and have been attributed to the workshop of Madhu and Beni Prasad in Benares. The Nelson-Atkins Museum purchased the entire collection at Sotheby's London, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Part Two, Arts of India, 31 May 2011, and had them recently on display in their temporary exhibition Silver Splendor: Conserving the Royal Thrones of Dungarpur, India, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 30 May 2020 – 9 May 2021.