Page 84 - Indian and Himalayan Art Mar 21, 2018 NYC

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ILLUSTRATION FROM THE SAT SAI SERIES OF BIHARI LAL: ILLUSTRATION FROM THE SAKUNAVALI SERIES:
KRISHNA BEGS FORGIVENESS A LAKE WITH FROGS
UDAIPUR, NORTHWEST INDIA, BEFORE 1719 UDAIPUR, NORTH WEST INDIA, CIRCA 1720
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper
Painting 7¡ x 7 in. (18.6 x 17.7 cm.); folio 9√ x 8Ω in. (25.2 x 21.6 cm.) Painting 7Ω x 7 in. (19 x 17.6 cm.); folio 10º x 8Ω in. (26 x 21.6 cm.)
$3,000-5,000 $10,000-15,000
PROVENANCE PROVENANCE
Christies London, October 11, 2013, no. 506. Christie’s South Kensington, 10 October 2013, Lot 196.
The Sat Sai or ‘seven hundred’ verses is an early vernacular text written in This painting comes from an extensive, dispersed series that classifes various
the early Braj Bhasha proto-dialect of Hindi. It follows in the tradition of omens that occur in daily life, from evil (such as a family of dogs or monkeys)
religious texts focusing on the romance of Krishna and Radha. The work through undesirable and good to excellent. The family of frogs in the current
itself contains couplets on neeti (moral lessons), shringara (love), and most painting is classed as neshta, (undesirable). The series is described by Andrew
importantly bhakti (devotion). Bihari Lal was a poet at the court of Mughal Topsfeld (Court Painting at Udaipur, Zurich, 2001, p.144-5 and fg.117). A
Emperor Shah Jahan who was later invited by Raja Jai Singh of Amber further painting from the same series depicts the ‘excellent’ omen of winged
to move to his court. It is at Amber that Bihari Lal is supposed to have elephants in a landscape (M. Archer, Rajput Miniatures from the Collection of
composed the Sat Sai. The illustrated copy, of which the present leaf is Edwin Binney, 3rd, Portland, 1968, p. 22, no. 7). A number of further examples
part, was a massive commission amounting to 643 pages, illustrated under have been sold at Bonham’s, including New York 14 March 2016, lot 100, and
the supervision of the scribe Kaviraja Jagannath (Andrew Topsfeld, Court 14 September 2015, lot 110.
Painting at Udaipur, Zurich, 2001, p.143-4 and fg.116). Many further examples
from the same partially dispersed series are known, including one in the The style here is not always typical for Mewar, and can sometimes demonstrate
Binney Collection (W. Archer, Rajput Miniatures from the Collection of Edwin strong direct infuence from the Mughal court. Here the the green ground is
Binney, 3rd, Portland, 1968, p. 23, no. 8). more shaded and the mountains very Persianate, although these are also
found in some other seventeenth century Mewar paintings.