Page 85 - Indian and Himalayan Art, March 15, 2017 Sotheby's NYC
P. 85
278
278
PROPERTY FROM THE LANIER COLLECTION with downcast eyes. Away from home and on facial types with side tendrils / disposition
campaign they wear katars (daggers) in their and stances of the gures / crisp color palette
BHILANI THE HUNTRESS waistbands. A huntsman metaphorically aims an / compartmentalization with registers of
Central India, Bundelkhand or arrow at a leaping deer. simultaneous action / schematic decorative
Panna, circa 1720-30 foliage / pillow-like mauve hillsides and stylized
Inscribed recto at upper left in black ink nagari crosshatching which de ne zones of landscape
Gouache with ink and gold on paper script “Bhilani”. Inscribed in the reverse with two all appear to be special features of this workshop
image: 11¾ by 9¾ in. (27.9 by 22.8 cm) lines of black ink nagari script which charmingly during the 1770’s. Given its extremely high
folio: 11¾ by 8¾ in. (27.9 by 20.3 cm) translates to: quality our present painting may well have been
created by one of the unnamed masters of that
PROVENANCE “With her bow-like eyebrows and the arrows of workshop. Crisply painted in greens/blues/
her eyes reds and mauve with bright white architectural
Sam Fogg Ltd., London Bhilani easily hunts the deer-like hearts of men elements and gold embellishment. Natural/bu
Acquired 1999 those su ering the pangs of separation.” borders and gray ruled lines.
In the upper register a blue-skinned lord This superb miniature painting likely originated $ 6,000-8,000
personi ed as Krishna is entertained by a dancer from a thikana of Bundelkhand and is from
accompanied by musicians while his beloved a series which depicts women of a di erent 83
waits seated within a small pavilion. In the castes (jats) as an archetypal nayika (heroine)
lower register a con dent Bhilani seductively often in the presence of Krishna. Distinctive
gestures to two love-lorn and supplicating princes
