Page 147 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York
P. 147
103 Two court ladies enjoy playing with a spinning top and yoyo. A lady
TWO COURT BEAUTIES with a yoyo is a favorite in the shringara genre. She usually stands in
Attributed to Baijnath, Deogarh, circa 1820-30 an erect posture on a footstool and lets the yo-yo fall to the ground
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. in a straight line (compare a Bundi/Kota painting in Poster, Realms of
Image: 7 1/2 x 5 1/8 in. (19 x 13 cm); Heroism, New York, 1994, p. 171, colorplate 128). Here, however,
Folio: 9 7/8 x 8 in. (25 x 20.3 cm) she appears in a tribhanga posture, with her hands raised behind
$7,000 - 10,000 her head. This is a visual mode known from the iconography of the
Desavarati Ragini (see Dallapiccola, Ragamala, 1975, pp. 281-9).
Of course, one doubts whether a tribhanga is the right pose for getting
your yoyo back, however it is an expressive trope of the Deogarh
master, Chokha, and his son, Baijnath. Of three known, two are
painted by the latter. By comparison, this painting may be attributed to
Baijnath. See Beach, Rajasthani painters Bagta and Chokha, Zurich,
2005, pp. 94 & 95, nos. 113-5.
Provenance
Private European Collection since early 1990s
INDIAN, HIMALAYAN & SOUTHEAST ASIAN ART | 145
