Page 234 - Himalayan Art Macrh 19 2018 Bonhams

3116
AN ILLUSTRATED PALM LEAF MANUSCRIPT OF THE
BHAGAVATA PURANA
ORISSA, 18TH CENTURY
Possibly complete, with original top and bottom plain wood
manuscript covers and blank cover folios; the engraved, illustrated
manuscript comprised of 119 palm leaf folios, 117 of them with
double-sided Oriya text, illustrated in part, with an approximate total of
75 illustrations throughout.
Folios: 1 3/8 x 15 3/4 in. (3.5 x 40 cm) irregular

$10,000 - 15,000

Orissan palm leaf manuscripts reached their peak of production in the
18th century, during the golden age of Oriya kavya literature, when
large numbers of chitra-pothis (illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts)
were commissioned. Due to the delicate nature of the material and
susceptibility to the extreme environment and insects, very few earlier
examples remain. The earliest known Orissan palm leaf manuscript
dates to c.1690 (Cary Welch, India, New York 1985, pp.62-3; Losty,
The Art of the Book, p.137, no.114).

The lot is a remarkably preserved collection of illustrated folios,
possibly comprising one or two complete chapters of the manuscript.
It begins with a customary illustrated folio of the ten avatars of
Vishnu, with Jagannath appearing as the ninth avatar, betraying the
manuscript’s Orissan origin. On this folio’s reverse, a colophon leads
on to a gallant equestrian parade.

Compare with other folios from contemporary Orissan palm leaf
manuscripts published in Czuma, Indian Art from the George P.
Bickford Collection, Cleveland, 1975, no.132; Poster, Realms of
Heroism, Brooklyn NY, 1994, p.302, no.252; Sharma, Indian Miniature
Painting, Brussels, 1974, p.35, pl.98; and sold Sotheby’s, New York,
26 March 1998, lot 18, and 18 March 2017, lot 1197.

Provenance
Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection
Thence by descent, 1993-9
Private New York Collection

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