Page 90 - Sotheby's Indian Himalayan and Southeast Asian Wroks of Art March 2019
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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION The illustration relates an episode that occurs
AN ILLUSTRATION TO THE early in the epic. The powerful sage Vishvamitra
RAMAYANA: RAMA AND LAKSHMANA was organizing an important ritual that was
RETURN TO AYODHYA threatened by demons. He therefore requested
Dasaratha to send his young princes to safeguard
India, Kangra or Guler, circa 1820-30 the sanctity of the ritual. The demons tested
Rama and Lakshmana’s mettle, but they were
Opaque watercolor on paper heightened with gold
folio: 10¼ by 14½ in. (25.7 by 36.8 cm.), rebuffed and after the successful completion of
unframed the event, the princes returned to Ayodhya.
image: 9½ by 14 in. (24.2 by 35.6 cm.) For another illustration depicting the same
subject, see Sotheby’s New York, September 20,
PROVENANCE 2005, lot 122.
Sotheby’s New York, March 19, 2008, lot 224.
$ 30,000-50,000
Rama and Lakshmana along with the sage
Vishvamitra are seen approaching the citadel of
Ayodhya on a boat at left, following which the
trio enter the palace complex where their father
Dasaratha, overjoyed at his sons’ return, rushes
out to greet them.
88 SOTHEBY’S INDIAN, HIMALAYAN & SOUTHEAST ASIAN WORKS OF ART
