Page 93 - 2020 Sept 22 Himalayin and Indian Works of Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art | Sotheby's

Across the river, at the right, Kunti, mother of the Pandavas receives Akrura in an audience hall of the palace at Hastinapura.
Akrura is then seen conversing with King Dhritarashtra on an upper story. The palaces are painted a brilliant white, set against a
green verdigris landscape with two large trees rising to a hill-crest lined with smaller trees - a large white fortress in the
distance. The sky glows a striking yellow brushed with streaks of vermilion. A golden sun shines above.

This superbly executed painting from Bikaner is from a large, dispersed Bhagavata Purana series, likely begun during the reign of
Maharaja Anup Singh (r.1669-98). Given the scope of the series and large number of folios extant we can conclude that the series
was painted over an approximately ten to twenty-year period and involved the hands of numerous artists in the royal Bikaner
painting workshops.

Other illustrations from the series are in public and private collections worldwide. See D. Ehnbom, Indian Miniatures: The Ehrenfeld
Collection, New York, 1985, pps. 148-49, cat 68, and S.C. Welch and M.C. Beach, Gods, Thrones and Peacocks, New York, 1965, p.
75, and p. 120, no. 29.
Folios from the series were offered at Sotheby's New York on March 25, 1987, lot 143, and on March 22, 2002, lot 19, from the
Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection.

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