Page 126 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York

82 82
AN ILLUSTRATION TO A BHAGAVATA PURANA
83 SERIES: KRISHNA, BALARAMA AND
THE SAGES IN THE FOREST
124 | BONHAMS Delhi, circa 1520-30
Opaque watercolor on paper; recto with three lines
of devanagari.
6 3/4 x 9 in. (17 x 22.9 cm)
$10,000 - 15,000

This painting comes from the most important
pre-Mughal Hindu manuscript: the earliest known
version of an illustrated Bhagavata Purana. It
illustrates book 10, chapter 84, verses 1-5, wherein
Krishna and Balarama are greeted by a host of
sages, kings, and adoring royal wives gathered in
the forest of Kurukshetra.

‘Forms and gestures are simple, angular, and clear,
and are set against solid color backgrounds that are
chosen for visual, not descriptive, effectiveness...
The narrative is all important, and consequently
the scenes have immediate impact; their strongest
effect comes with the first encounter.’
- M.C. Beach, The Imperial Image,
Washington, 1981, p. 48.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, London, 24 April 1996, lot 17
Private Collection, London
Bonhams, New York, 18 March 2013, lot 68

83
AN ILLUSTRATION FROM
A RASIKAPRIYA SERIES
Orchha, 1634
Opaque watercolor on paper.
Image: 4 1/4 x 5 3/8 in. (10.7 x 13.7 cm);
Folio: 8 x 6 3/8 in. (20.4 x 16.2 cm)
$3,000 - 5,000

A distressed Radha is fanned by her confidante
while offering words of solace over Krishna’s
absence. The red background of the empty
bedchamber, which had been prepared for her lover,
amplifies the intensity of Radha’s rejection. Even the
monkey escapes the scene by leaping onto the roof.

Many of the leaves from this series, dated 1634, are
in the National Museum, New Delhi, while others
are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and
American museums. An almost identical composition,
except that the positions of the two women is
swapped, is in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (Poster,
Realms of Heroism, 1990, p. 186, no. 141). For other
examples see: Archer & Binney, Rajput Miniatures
from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd, Portland,
1968, no. 40; Lee, Rajput Painting, New York, 1960,
no. 5(D); Czuma, Indian Art from the Collection of
George Bickford, Cleveland, 1975, no. 68. Two from
the Pal Collection sold at Christie’s, New York, 20
March 2008, lot 237.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 25 March 1987, lot 49
Private Collection, New York