Page 154 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York

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KRISHNA AND RADHA: LOVEPLAY IN MOONLIGHT
Guler, circa 1810
Opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper; verso with collection stamps
and signatures of Abdur Rahman Chughtai.
Image: 8 3/4 x 7 3/8 in. (22.3 x 18.7 cm);
Folio: 14 x 11 3/8 in. (35.5 x 29 cm)
$30,000 - 40,000
There is a second, practically identical painting in the Collection of the Bharat Kala Bhavan,
Varanasi, which is reproduced in Randhawa, Kangra Paintings on Love, New Delhi, 1962,
Colorplate XIX, p. 185. The two paintings illustrate a poem in Gurmukhi, which is inscribed
on the top of the Bharat Kala painting. The poem reads in a corrected translation:
‘The nayika adorned herself with various ornaments and clothes and wanted to tease her
beloved. She painted her upper body with sandal paste and created tie-strings in saffron.
Krishna in his romantic dalliance with her was deceived. When the nayika with sidelong glances
asked him to remove the choli, Krishna tried to undo it, and when he realized that it was only
paint and not an actual choli, he was embarrassed.’
The artist depicts Radha coyly turning her head. The sandal paste and saffron indicated
by a thin yellow wash above her glowing ivory skin. Krishna fumbles around for the absent
tie-strings. Their loveplay takes place in a palatial setting: a sumptuous white marble pavilion
encrusted with pietra dura and precious stones emphatic of luxurious Mughal material culture.
The bed is like a throne of silver and gold, overarched by a magnificent brocade baldachin.
The viewer beholds a divine couple.
Provenance
Collection of Abdur Rahman Chughtai (1897-1975)
Private European Collection since 1988

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