Karena Clode at Westley Richard has been kind enough to provide a little information on the painting of the right eye dominant sport with the two lions.
“I cannot get a proper history / story but the painting is an oil painting by Abbey Altson and is of the Maharaja Jamnagar with Lion. The rifle is a cross eyed Holland Royal Rifle which was sold at Sotheby’s in Geneva in approx 1994. My grandfather says the Lions only exist in the Gir forest in Ragkot so this picture will have been done there as this is where the Jamnagar estate is.”
A quick internet search came up with this; Abbey Altson (1864 - c.1949) was a British classical painter. Born in Yorkshire, Abbey (Abraham) Alston moved to Melbourne, Australia to study in the early 1880s. After several years there and having won a Gold Medal for painting, he returned to England, stopping in Paris on the way to further his studies. He settled in London becoming a successful painter of portraits and genre pictures. He is best remembered today for his exercises in late classical painting, taking his lead from Lord Leighton, Alma Tadema, Waterhouse and Godward. Towards the end of his life he settled in America, where he died.
Jamnagar, historically called Nawanagar or the new city, was one of the most important princely states of Saurashtra. On 31 August 1915, The Maharaja of Nawanagar took part in a grouse shooting party on the Yorkshire Moors near Langdale End. While on foot, he was accidentally shot in the right eye by another member of the party. The eye was later removed.
The Gir forest is now a wildlife sanctuary and national park but still has a population of Asian lions (Panthera leo persica).
