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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 École des

Beaux‒Arts, and the Académie 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, © 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.

SIR JACOB EPSTEIN

(1880 ‒ 1959)

Portrait of the Maharanee of Baroda

Inscribed ‘EPSTEIN’ (on the reverse)

Bronze

Height: 13.5 in (34.5 cm)

Width: 12.5 in (32 cm)

Depth: 9.5 in (24 cm)

Rs 6,00,000 ‒ 8,00,000

$ 9,095 ‒ 12,125

PROVENANCE:

Maharaja of Baroda (1908‒1968)

Thence by descent to Prince Gaekwar of Baroda

(1930‒1988)

Christie’s, London, 3 March 1988, lot 138

Private Collection, India

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 Britishwho sought to squash thewedding

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.

Sita Devi, Baroda, Gujarat, 1948