Page 92 - Indian and Himalayan Art, March 15, 2017 Sotheby's NYC

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285 PROPERTY FROM THE LANIER COLLECTION
90 SOTHEBY’S
VISHNU RECLINING ON SHESHA IN
THE COSMIC OCEAN: A FOLIO FROM A
MARKANDEYA PURANA SERIES
India, Rajasthan or Gujarat, early 17th
Century

Opaque watercolor with ink on paper
image: 5¼ by 4¼ in. (12.7 by 10.2 cm)

PROVENANCE

Oscar Leneman Collection
Acquired 1978

A lively folio from an early dispersed Devi Mahatmya Series
(“The Hymn of the Great Goddess” as narrated by the Sage
Markandeya) and executed in an early “popular” manner on
a coarse natural-leaf paper, which is not dissimilar from the
porous paper of the famous “Palam” Bhagavata Purana of
1530-40. Its palette, naive sh-shaped black outlined eye,

attened heads and angular clothing details, all suggest a
connection to the earlier pre-Mughal Chaurapanchasika-
related manner. The present series has previously been dated,
although somewhat broadly by scholars, to the rst half of the
Seventeenth Century.

For another folio from this signi cant dispersed series see
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no.
1977.440.16.

$ 1,000-2,000

285

PROPERTY FROM THE LANIER COLLECTION

A LORD PORTRAYED AS VISHNU
India, Rajasthan, Marwar or Bikaner, early/
mid-17th Century

Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper
image: 5⅔ by 4 in. (12.7 by 10.2 cm)

PROVENANCE

Oscar Leneman Collection
Acquired 1977

A four-armed blue-skinned prince holds the attributes of
Vishnu: a chakra, a conch, a long gold mace and a jeweled
blossom. Depicted like an icon viewed through a scalloped
door - enclosed by white marble architecture - standing on
a mauve patterned carpet, set against a terracotta-colored
background.

This is an extremely rare painting - particularly in view of its
early period and Rajasthani place of origin. We see a esh and
blood raja in the guise of the Hindu god Vishnu but his face
seems portrait-like and not idealized. Presently, our prince is
unidenti ed, but his aquiline nose with aring nostrils, small
mustache, large upturned prominent eyes and sharp chin
leading to a rounded jaw-line, are all individualized enough to
permit a future identi cation to be possible. This is an early,
Mughalized portrait from Rajasthan with some naturalistic
shading to the face and hands - our nobleman dressed in a
version of the Mughal manner.

$ 1,500-2,500