Page 146 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York
P. 146
102 Dated by its colophon, the Mewari Satsai of 1719 is the first illustrated
A FOLIO FROM A BIHARI SAT SAI SERIES: manuscript of Bihari Lal’s seven-hundred couplet poem exploring the
THE GOLDEN GLOW OF YOUTHFUL BEAUTY romance of Krishna and Radha. This folio illustrates couplet 190:
Udaipur, 1719
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; two lines of devanagari ‘Youth’s light glimmers like golden jasmine from every limb;
in the yellow text-field and numbered ‘155’. The bodice red with saffron’s hue becomes two-hued from body-glow.’
Image: 7 1/2 x 7 1/8 in. (19 x 18.1 cm);
Folio: 10 x 8 1/2 in. (25.4 x 21.6 cm) In the upper right, her sakhi (confidante) describes Radha’s beauty
$7,000 - 10,000 in such words to Krishna. While in the park, we see Radha among
companions, her choli (bodice) indeed glowing in two colors: crimson
144 | BONHAMS and orange. But further still, the painter extends her radiance
throughout the composition, creating a symphony of red, orange, and
saffron under a canopy of complimentary colors.
Provenance
Private European Collection since early 1990s
