Her Highness Maharani Sanyogita Devi of Indore was born Princess Sanyogita of Kagal, who with her husband Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar II helped turn Manik Bagh (their “Jewel Garden” palace) into a celebrated Art Deco showpiece filled with cutting-edge European design. Educated in England and photographed by Man Ray, she moved with ease between Indian court protocol and avant-garde Paris. French artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel captures that duality with a traditional sari and a cascade of flowers, yet her frontal pose, flattened space, and crisp geometry are pure modernism. The young Indian maharani stands on a dark platform, directly facing us. Her medium-brown skin, oval face, and neat centre-parted black hair frame a poised but unsmiling expression, her dark eyes meeting ours with steady intensity and her lips painted deep red. She wears a luminous lime-yellow sari with a finely patterned gold border and the sheer pallu drawn over her head and across one arm so we glimpse a richly embroidered black and gold bodice and turquoise short sleeves beneath. Her right hand rests on her hip while the left gathers a fold of fabric at her waist as red-polished nails catching the light. Around her neck sits a diamond-and-emerald necklace with two monumental pear-shaped diamonds, echoed by matching earrings, bracelet, ring, and a slim watch. She stands in elegant sandals, surrounded on three sides by white ornamental pots bursting with palms, lilies, chrysanthemums, and marigolds, all set against a pale, nearly blank background that makes her figure and jewels read with extraordinary clarity. The dazzling necklace incorporates the famous “Indore Pears” diamonds, signalling both dynastic wealth and the couple’s enthusiasm for contemporary jewelry. Sanyogita died in 1937 in her early twenties, and her unflinching gaze here preserves the image of a young woman whose taste, confidence, and curiosity helped redefine what Indian royalty could look like in the 1930s.
“H.H. The Maharani of Indore” by Bernard Boutet de Monvel (French) - Oil on canvas / c. 1934 - Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris, France) #WomenInArt #artText #artwork #BernardBoutetdeMonvel #Monvel #BoutetdeMonvel #AlThaniCollection #MuseeDesArtsDecoratifs #ArtDeco #RoyalPortrait #PortraitofaWoman
