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GANESHA ENTHRONED RAJA SIDH SEN OF MANDI
SCHOOL OF SAJNU, MANDI, CIRCA 1800-1820 BY MOHAMMADI, MANDI, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper; verso inscribed Opaque watercolor on paper; inscribed on flyleaf identifying the ruler
with number 545 and Mandi Royal Collection stamp. and the artist named Mohammadi.
Image: 9 1/4 x 7 1/8 in. (19.8 x 28.1 cm); 12 3/8 x 8 1/2 in. (32 x 22.3 cm)
Folio: 12 x 9 5/8 in. (30.4 x 23.1 cm)
$4,000 - 6,000
$15,000 - 20,000
Revered throughout the Himalayan region as a fierce warrior and
Conceived with the superb proportions, Lord Ganesha is enthroned effective ruler, Sidh Sen of Mandi (r. 1684-1727) is depicted with
within a palace chamber. Unlike more common compositions where he his characteristic bare chest and thick bands of hair bisecting his
is shown under an open sky, here the artist has captured an intimate powerful torso. Known to be a fanatical devotee of Shiva, he was
scene with the single pious maiden satisfying the god’s limitless also said to possess magical powers. A closely related early portrait
appetite for all things sweet. held in the Fine Art Museum, Boston (2001.137) shows the ruler as a
manifestation of Shiva. Legend suggests the golden gutka, or magical
The layered perspective and finely detailed composition are hallmarks amulet he wears, allowed him to fly to the source of the Ganges each
of the school of Sajnu, which flourished under the patronage of Ishavari morning to perform his ablutions.
Sen in the first decades of the 19th century. The delicate treatment
of the lotus petals along the architrave and the chevron patterns on This posthumous portrait was likely commissioned as a mark of
the tapering columns are also found on a Barahmasa page attributed reverence by Raja Isvari Sen, who ruled Mandi from 1788 to 1826 and
to Sajnu in the Chandigarh Museum (see Archer, Indian Paintings restored Mandi’s fortunes after a period of steep decline under the rule
from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, p.274, no.44). Also compare of Shamsher Sen.
the treatment of the maiden, and the architectural elements found in
a page in the Victoria and Albert Museum (ibid., p.277, no.54), and Provenance
a page from a Hamir Hartha series sold at Bonhams, New York, 11 Royal Mandi Collection
September 2012, lot 91. Private German Collection, 1969
Rob Dean Art, London, November, 2012
Provenance
Mandi Royal Collection
German Private Collection, 1969
Rob Dean Art, London, November 2015

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