Page 140 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019

PAINTINGS FROM THE ESTATE OF CAROL SUMMERS
(LOTS 694-709)

AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE ‘SHANGRI’ RAMAYANA

This illustration is probably from the Lanka or Sundara Kanda, the ffth book of For three other folios from the series, executed in ‘Style III,’ see T. McInerney,
the Ramayana. It depicts Rama with blue skin, seated with his younger brother S. Kossak, N. Haider, Divine Pleasures: Painting from India’s Rajput Courts –
Lakshmana. Behind the brothers are Sugriva, the king of the monkeys, and The Kronos Collections, (exhibition catalogue), New York, 2016, cat. no. 58-60,
Vibhishana, Rama’s ally and the future king of Lanka. pp. 168-173. With the background reduced to a bare minimum, the ‘Style III’
folios have clear narrative action. The dense forms and bright colors derive
This series of paintings is known as the 'Shangri' Ramayana because it was from the ‘Style I’ illustrations of the Early Bahu Master.
once in the possession of the Rajas of Shangri, a branch of the Kulu royal
family. Scholars have debated over the origin of this Ramayana series. W.G. The series was dispersed in 1961. A very substantial proportion of the series,
Archer initially found Kulu to be the most likely origin. According to the family 168 folios, are in the National Museum in New Delhi. Other examples are
tradition of Raja Raghubir Singh, the pictures were painted in Kulu during the in a number of collections including the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi,
reigns of Raja Jagat Singh and Raja Bidhi Singh. On the basis of style and the British Library, London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the
date, Archer distinguished four painting classifcations within the series. The Rietberg Museum, Zurich, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the
present folio, which is probably from the Sundara or Lanka Kanda has been Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the San Diego Museum of Arts (Edwin Binney
executed in ‘Style III.’ Archer describes it as a “style of lush exuberance” and 3rd Collection), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Philadelphia
says it was chiefy used to illustrate jungle scenes as well as the adventures Museum of Art and the Portland Museum of Art, as well as in several private
of Hanuman and the monkey army in Lanka (W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings collections. For folios from the same series which have sold at auction, see
from the Punjab Hills, 1973, Vol. I, pp. 325-329). B.N. Goswamy and Eberhard Christie’s London, 26 May 2016, lot 63, and Christie’s New York, 19 March
Fischer have, more recently, argued that the paintings should be attributed to 2013, lot 309.
Bahu on account of the fgurative similarities with Raja Kirpal Dev and Raja
Anand Dev of Bahu (B.N. Goswamy and E. Fischer, Pahari Masters – Court
Painters of Northern India, Zurich, 1992, pp. 76-81).

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