Page 172 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

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A PAINTING OF A LOVE-LORN NAYIKA
NORTH INDIA, PUNJAB HILLS, MANDI, CIRCA 1840
Folio 11¬ x 9√ in. (29.5 x 25.1 cm.)
Image 7√ x 5Ω in. (20 x 14 cm.)
$8,000-12,000
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, England, by repute.
A heroine clutches a plantain tree to keep upright as her legs become too weak
to support her weight. She looks aimlessly towards the ground as she suffers
from a condition known as vipralambhashringara, or love in separation. The
Virahini Nayika, or woman in longing, is a popular subject in Pahari painting.
She is often depicted alone, feeding animals, staring out into a storm, smoking
a hookah, or like the present painting, clinging to a tree.
This sensitively rendered painting captures the damsel’s despair as she
experiences the pain of her lovers absence. The artist here clearly delighted
in the illustration of vegetation, from the manicured floral patches to the
striated banana trees with petals falling from its drooping flower. The ornately
illuminated lapis blue borders and overall naturalist details are indicative of the
mid-19th century Mandi school of painting.

Compare the present painting to a very similar composition by Sajnu in the
collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession no. IS.12-1956) . The
Sajnu painting is inscribed with verses of poetry describing her condition:
It is evening and still the lover does not come. Dressed in a gold-edged sari,
frantic with worry, the girl has descended from her balcony. I cannot understand
such long delay. She stands clasping the plantain tree. Her face is full of care.

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