Page 108 - 2021 March 17th, Indian and Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, Christie's New York City

PROPERTY FROM A PROMINENT EAST COAST COLLECTION
438
AN ILLUSTRATION TO A NALA AND DAMAYANTI SERIES:
DAMAYANTI SEEKS TO FIND NALA IN THE FOREST
NORTH INDIA, PUNJAB HILLS, KANGRA, 1820-30
Image 9æ x 14 in. (24.8 x 35.6 cm.)
$15,000-20,000
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Carter Burden, New York, by 12 February 1971
(collection no. 14.104).
The Carter Burden Collection of Indian Paintings; Sotheby's New York,
27 March 1991, lot 71.
The Paul F. Walter Collection; Sotheby’s New York, 14 November 2002, lot 90.

印度北部 旁遮普地區 坎格拉 1820-30年 《摩訶婆羅多》人物故事
圖：NALA 與DAMAYANTI
來源:
Carter Burden珍藏，紐約，不晚於1971年2月12日（藏品編號14.104）。
The Carter Burden Collection of Indian Paintings；紐約蘇富比，1991年3月27
日，拍品71。
The Paul F. Walter Collection；紐約蘇富比，2002年11月14日，拍品90。

This well-provenanced painting from a Nala and Damayanti series depicts
a succession of scenes after Damayanti awakes in the forest without her
husband Nala. The clever illustration uses continuous narrative to convey the
many moments of the story. In the top, left corner, Nala and Damayanti arrive
at a resting place in the forest; after Damayanti falls deep asleep, Nala sneaks
off, and in the lower left corner, regretfully makes the decision that it is for
Damayanti’s own good that he leaves her. In the top tight corner, Damayanti
awakens, and searches for Nala endlessly in an open landscape. In the lower
right corner, she encounters a snake; a hunter quickly comes to her aid, but
immediately falls in love with her and attempts to take her captive. Damayanti
casts a curse on the hunter, who is depicted duplicitously in a pit of fire.

The twelfth-century epic poem, Naishadha Charita, which expands upon the
love of Nala and Damayanti first detailed in the Mahabharata¸ is a favored
subject of the Pahari painting schools. The text evokes the delicacy of their love
and the intensity of their trials, themes best fit for the workshops celebrated
for their similarly romantic Gita Govinda series. The series has been noted
for its unusual use of a deep open landscape and areal perspective; another
illustration from the present series can be found at the Brooklyn Museum (acc.
no. 81.192.9), depicting Nala charioteering King Rituparna.