Page 80 - 2021 March 16th Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Art, Bonhams NYC New York

338
A FOLIO FROM THE KANGRA RASIKAPRIYA:
KRISHNA EXAMINES A PICTURE OF HIS BELOVED
SCHOOL OF PURKHU, KANGRA, CIRCA 1810
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper with an attached flyleaf; painting inscribed on the
reverse in nagari script with the text of Rasikapriya chapter 4, verse 12, entitled in red: atha
Sri Krishna ko prakasa citra darsana (‘Sri Krishna’s manifest vision [of his beloved] through a
painting’)
Image: 10 x 6 1/8 in. (25.5 x 15.6 cm);
Folio: 13 x 9 in. (33 x 22.8 cm)
$40,000 - 60,000

Discussing another painting from the Kangra Rasikapriya, Goswamy writes, “Krishna becomes
for the poet the ideal nyak, and Radha the archetypal beloved. Through them, and occasionally
through a sahki-friend, intense love is expressed, experienced, celebrated.” (Goswamy, The
Spirit of Indian Painting, 2016, p.441.)

Krishna sits entranced by the portrait of Radha her sakhi has brought him. The crimson sky and
abundant poppies reflect the intensity of love Radha’s image inspires in him. The sakhi tries to
convey a message, but despite her striking tiger-orange sari, Krishna pays her no heed. His
thoughts, his soul are consumed, are owned by Radha.

“The glorious wives of demigods,
Past skies who move, kinnari maids,
Are naught before her; women all
At her feet bow – snake women frail,
Slim dancing girls, hill-women tall,
She demons, heavenly damsels pale:
As if lightening took form divine:
Even Kama’s wife poor beside her shows!
Like Lakshmi or Sita she shines,
And even her picture steals my soul!”

(Bahadur, Rasikapriya, Mumbai, 1972, p.64.)

The artist has placed Krishna at the center of the composition, his long frame intersecting the
pavilion’s planes of stark white and grey, perhaps alluding to his conflicting emotions. The plum
blossoms superimposed over the intense sky evoke the fragility of love and how quickly it can
perish. This is one of the finest and most engaging pages from the Kangra Rasikapriya, where
the artist’s use of color, architecture, and line reflect the emotion of the verse and draws the
viewer in to be entranced just like Krishna.

The Kangra Rasikapriya, is a large series with paintings of varying quality. This painting is
early in the series and of superior quality. Its large figures might indicate the hand of Purkhu
(cf. Goswamy & Fischer, ‘Purkhu of Kangra’ in Beach, Fischer & Goswamy, Masters of Indian
Painting, Artibus Asiae, Zurich, 2011, pp.719–32). Well known and widely published, see
fourteen other paintings from the series in the Victoria and Albert Museum, published in Archer,
Indian Painting from the Punjab Hills, 1973, Kangra, no.66 i-vi, pp.305-307. Another was sold
at Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2012, lot 1186 and three folios were sold at Sotheby’s, New
York, 20 March 2013, lots 311, 315 & 318 and Bonhams, New York, 14 March 2016, lot 107.

Published
Jerry Losty, Pahari Paintings from The Eva And Konrad Seitz Collection, Francesca Galloway,
London 2016, no.21.

Provenance
Collection of Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Lahore (1897-1975)
Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection, Germany
Francesca Galloway, London, 2016

78 | BONHAMS