Page 91 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

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THE AWFUL EFFECTS OF DRUG ADDICTION KRISHNA'S HIDDEN LOVE IN
PERHAPS JODHPUR OR MARWAR THIKANA, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, 1780-1800 SEPARATION
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, set within a buff pink and gold- BUNDI, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1680
flecked album page between gold, blue and white rules, a purple upper border, the An illustration to the Rasikapriya of Keshav Das,
reverse plain opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper,
Painting 10º x 8¬in. (26 x 22cm.); folio 14 x 9qin. (35.6 x 24.1cm.) 4ll. black devanagari above against a yellow
ground, set within gold, black and white rules, red
£5,000-7,000 US$5,800-8,000
margins with inscriptions in black devanagari, the
€5,700-8,000
reverse plain
Painting 10q x 6æin. (26.5 x 17.2cm.); text panel
EXHIBITED: (30 x 17.2cm.); folio 14æ x 9¬in. (37.5 x 24.5cm.)
Genuss und Rausch - Betel, Tabak, Wein, Hasch und Opium in der indischen
Malerei,Museum Rietberg, Zürich,2010. £8,000-12,000 US$9,200-14,000
Pergamonmuseum, Genuss und Rausch - Wein, Tabak und Drogen in indischen €9,200-14,000
Miniaturen, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Bodestrabe,2014.
PROVENANCE:
LITERATURE: Private Collection, USA
L.V. Habighorst, ‘Caricature and satire in Indian miniature painting’, in Indian Satire Anon. sale, Sotheby's, New York, 28 October 1991,
in the Period of First Modernity, M. Horstmann and H. Pauwels (eds.), Harrassowitz lot 26
Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2012, pp. 117-32, fig. 7 (as Jodhpur or Pratapgarh, mid-18th century)
J.P. Losty, Indian Paintings from the Ludwig Habighorst Collection, Francesca EXHIBITED:
Galloway, London, 2018, no. 30 Blumen - Bäume - Göttergärten - Indische
Malerei aus sechs Jahrhunderten, Museum für
Showing various unsavoury behaviours arising from drug addiction, this painting Völkerkunde, Hamburg, 17 March - 27 October
is something of a warning of the importance of staying on the straight and narrow. 2013
Many of the figures appear emancipated and are all engaging in some sort of Der Blaue Gott in indischen Miniaturen,Mittelrhein
Museum,Koblenz,26 July - 5 October 2014
outrageous antisocial behaviour. Interestingly involving both Hindu and Muslim
characters, we see numerous ascetics fighting over a nargileh, a man so intoxicated LITERATURE:
a parrot has taken up residence on his shoulder, and a couple of loyal customers L.V. Habighorst, L. Reichart and V. Sharma, Love
prostrating themselves before the owner or a drug or liquor store. for Pleasure: Betel, Tobacco, Wine and Drugs in
Indian Miniatures, Ragaputra Edition, Koblenz,
Whilst the colours of the painting are suggestive of late Mughal painting, the 2007. Published in German as Genuss und
Rausch. Betel, Tabak, Wein und Rauschdrogen in
schools of Murshidabad and Lucknow had a keen focus on perspective by the late
indischen Miniaturen, Ragaputra Edition, Koblenz,
18 century which the present lot lacks. Rajasthan, especially Jaipur, could then be
th
2007, fig. 19
71 possible although the figural style with heavily modelled features would suggest late L.V. Habighorst, Blumen - Bäume - Göttergärten in
18 century Jodhpur or, at the least, Marwar (J. Losty, op.cit., p.102). Drugs and drug indischen Miniaturen, Koblenz, 2011, fig. 35
th
use are popular features in Indian painting of this period and can range from the H.V. Dehejia, Rasikapriya: Ritikavya of Keshavdas
respectful to the satirical, as with the present lot, in tone (J. Mallinson, “Drugs and in Ateliers of Love, DK Printworld, New Delhi,
Religion in India”, in Losty, op.cit., pp.77-79). 2013, p.133
L.V. Habighorst, Der blaue Gott in indischen
72 Miniaturen, Mittelrhein Museum, Koblenz, 2014,
WHAT A DREAM OF SCALES FORETELLS no. 21
MEWAR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1720 J.P. Losty, Rajput Paintings from the Ludwig
Habighorst Collection, Francesca Galloway,
An illustration to the Sakunavali (Book of Omens), opaque pigments heightened with London, 2018, no.5
gold and silver on paper, 2ll. black and red devanagari in a yellow box above, with gold
border and black rules and set within a red margin, the reverse plain INSCRIPTIONS:
Painting 8w x 7in. (22.4 x 17.8cm.); folio 10¿ x 8¡in. (25.7 x 21.4cm.) Above: the Rasikapriya I of Keshav Das, 26
In the margin: Prathama 8 indicating chapter 1,
£3,000-5,000 US$3,500-5,700 verse 8
€3,500-5,700
‘Krishna, tell me, has your mind taken offence
INSCRIPTIONS: to you or has someone frightened it away?’
Arthanashmanirvana | virodhavyadhisambhava | shokasantayahaanishva | (Transation, H. Dehejia, 2013, p.133). In this
tularupamvinirdishotu | 33 | neshta | gaon 4 (keemat 9), 'Loss of wealth; incurring of an
incurable illness; sorrow; heartache; loss (from all directions); this is what (a dream of) scene from the Rasikapriya of Keshav Das the
balance indicates. 33. An inauspicious omen ([In another hand] value 9).' hero, nayaka, is doing his best to conceal his
burning love for the nayika. Confronted by a The group is characterised by a particular the composition through which a peacock strolls.
This painting comes from an extensive, dispersed series of nearly 100 folios that sakhi– possibly sent by the nayika herself – to meticulousness of drawing, demonstrated Other known illustrations from this series
classifies various omens occurring in daily life. These omens range from those most explain the strange behaviours he is exhibiting, he here by the particularly excellent handling of are kept in a number of museums around the
evil to the undesirable, good, excellent and, finally, best of all. The series, unique to is reluctant to reveal to the concerned messenger the diaphanous jama and ornhi worn by the world including the National Museum, New
Udaipur, is described by Andrew Topsfield who comments that all omens, regardless his infatuation of her friend. nayakaand nayika respectively. Figures are Delhi, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
th
of their being good or bad, are rendered with equal directness and sensitivity (Court also slightly smaller than in other 17 century Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum
Painting at Udaipur, Zurich, 2001, p.144-5 and fig.117). This painting comes from a known but widely Bundi painting. The elegantly depicted pavilion Rietberg, Zurich, and National Gallery of
dispersed Rasikapriya series. Joachim Bautze and drum, typical of Bundi painting of this Australia, Sydney. Various pages have sold at
A number are now in museum collections such as Los Angeles County Museum of attempted to reconstruct the group in his 1991 period, are also somewhat smaller allowing for auction in Sotheby’s London, 24 April 1979, lot
Art (M.83.219.2) and published (see Bautze, Indian Miniature Painting, Amsterdam, book referencing the illustrations known at greater compositional freedom and inclusion of 95; 11 October 1991, lot 806; 19 October 1994,
72 1987, no.23). Other examples from the series have sold at Bonhams, London, 6 that time (Lotosmond und Lowenritt: Indische decorative details such as the floral rug on the lots 168 and 170; and 19 October 2016, lot 25.
October 2008, lot 391, and 30 March 2021, lot 67; Christie’s New York, 21 March miniaturmalerei, Seattle, 1991, pp.140-143). adjacent terrace and line of flowers at the front of
2018, lot 344, and in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 196.