Court & Courtship: Indian Miniatures in the TAPI Collection

Court & Courtship: Indian Miniatures in the TAPI Collection is a study of Indian paintings in which the author J.P. Losty explores the well-trod highways and the lesser-known byways of miniature paintings, put together by the well-known textile collectors, Praful and Shilpa Shah.

Starting with a splendid 16th-century painting from the early Rajput Bhagvata Purana, readers will savor the variety of Mughal and other portraits of emperors, princes, courtiers, and of royal elephants and horses. Courtly pictures include several from the Deccan, Rajasthan, Central India, and the northern hills. Resplendent ladies in 18th and 19th-century attire adorn the pages, as do paintings acquired for the textiles and costumes they illustrate – jamas, paijamas, angarkhas, turbans, odhnis, patkas, canopies, and qanats.

Representing the classic texts of Sanskrit and Hindi literature are stunning examples from a 17th-century ragamala, the Shangri Ramayana, the Gita Govinda, Harivamsha, and Rasikapriya. Two of the most impressive paintings ever to come out of Nathdwara are featured here, from the hands of master artists Sukhdev Gaur and Ghasiram Sharma. Showcasing 90 superb images, this collection is sure to be of interest to lovers of Indian art.

J.P. Losty was the curator of Indian manuscripts and paintings at the British Museum and British Library in London for 34 years until his retirement in 2005. He has published extensively on illustrated Indian manuscripts and painting in India from the 11th to the 19th century. Some of his most important books include the groundbreaking The Art of the Book in India (1982), Calcutta: City of Palaces (1990), The Ramayana: Love and Valour in India’s Great Epic (2008), and Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire (with Malini Roy, 2012). More recent publications include catalogues of two important Indian collections of Company paintings, in the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum in Hyderabad (2016) and in the TAPI Collection (2019).

Praful and Shilpa Shah are co-founders of the TAPI Collection (Textile and Art of the People of India). Established in 2001 and comprising works acquired from the 1980s, the collection has evolved into one of the pre-eminent private collections of Indian textiles and art. Committed to restoring, researching, publishing, and exhibiting facets of their collection, their approach remains eclectic and personal. Praful is a textile industrialist and painter. Shilpa is an advertising professional and freelance writer.