Page 92 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

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A PRINCESS LISTENING TO MUSIC THE RETURN OF THE UNFAITHFUL LOVER (KHANDITA NAYIKA) The Rasamanjari, a poem by the Sanskrit poet Bhanudatta, concerns nayikas
NURPUR, NORTH INDIA, 1770-80 NURPUR, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1720 – women in love. Strongly influencing later Hindi literature like the Riti and
Opaque pigments heightened with gold and silver on paper, set within red The arrangement of figures seated on a terrace, one turning backwards to Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, margins and borders Rasikapriya, the text was a particularly popular subject in the Pahari region.
margin and black and white rules, the reverse plain talk, whilst listening to music was a recurring one of Nurpur painting in the cropped, the reverse plain The present painting has been cropped leaving no caption and has a plain
Painting 6¡ x 10qin. (16.4 x 26.8cm.); folio 6w x 11¿in. (17.7 x 28.2cm.) mid-18 century (see Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 7æ x 10¬in. (19.6 x 27cm.) reverse meaning it cannot be definitively linked to the Rasamanjari but it
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£25,000-30,000 US$29,000-34,000 1976, Nurpur 30, 32, and 73). Unlike earlier Nurpur paintings, the present £30,000-50,000 US$35,000-57,000 seems to well illustrate verse 46. This verse tells of the Khandita Nayika, the
€29,000-34,000 lot does have the typically elongated figures associated with the school. €35,000-57,000 wronged heroine whose lover has strayed. In the verse the nayaka and his
Instead we see greater influence of the neighbouring Guler school which friend are meant to be conversing of his wife’s anger but in our painting we
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became particularly strong in the second half of the 18 century. For a small are shown the moment of confrontation itself.
EXHIBITED: EXHIBITED:
Genuss und Rausch - Betel, Tabak, Wein, Hasch und Opium in der indischen state it was Nurpur’s location at the mouth of the Kangra valley that gave it Der Spiegel - Der Mensch im Widerschein, Zürich, Museum Rietberg,15 May -
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Malerei, Zürich, Museum Rietberg, 2010 importance allowing for painting to flourish in the 18 century. Also exhibited 22 September 2019 In the right-hand corner of the page the sun rises over a hill and the heroine,
in the present lot is the distinctive handling of trees, something Archer labels with a quite furious expression, confronts her absent lover. She holds out
LITERATURE: LITERATURE: a hand in exasperation and yet, despite her clear displeasure the nayaka
as “unusual” (op.cit.,p.385).
L.V. Habighorst, L. Reichart, P.A. and V. Sharma, Love for Pleasure: Betel, L.V. Habighorst, P.A.Reichart and V. Sharma, Love for Pleasure: Betel,
appears completely unperturbed. His white jama unruffled and a calm
Tobacco, Wine and Drugs in IndianMiniatures, Ragaputra Edition, Koblenz, Tobacco, Wine and Drugs in Indian Miniatures, Ragaputra Edition, Koblenz,
2007. Published in German as Genuss und Rausch. Betel, Tabak, Wein und Similar Nurpur paintings have been sold at Christie’s New York, 20 March 2007. Published in German as Genuss und Rausch. Betel, Tabak, Wein und expression on his face perhaps the only sign of his misadventures being a
Rauschdrogen in indischen Miniaturen, Ragaputra Edition, Koblenz, 2007, fig. 2012, lot 295 and in these Rooms, 23 September 2005, lot 69. Rauschdrogen in indischen Miniaturen, Ragaputra Edition, Koblenz, 2007, fig. slightly hastily tied turban with locks of hair escaping from underneath. The
41, p. 67 10 dating of the painting is inferred from the length of the jamawhich, obscuring
V. Sharma, Kangra ki citramkan parampara, Chamba, 2010, p. 102 V. Sharma, Kangra ki citramkan parampara, Chamba, 2010, p. 62 all but the very bottoms of the nayaka's feet, was a length not obtained until
Francesca Galloway, Indian Paintings from the Ludwig Habighorst Collection, A. Lutz, Der Spiegel - Der Mensch im Widerschein, Wienand Verlag, 2019 the reign of Muhammad Shah (r.1719-48). Two illustrations from an earlier
London, 2018, no. 9 J.P. Losty, Rajput paintings from the Ludwig Habighorst Collection, Francesca Nayaka-Nayika-bheda from Nurpur and now in the Victoria & Albert Museum,
Galloway, London, 2019, no. 14 London (IS.127-1951) are relevant to the ours with the first seemingly showing
V. Sharma, Painting in the Kangra Valley, Delhi, 2020, pl.126.
the nayika on a pavilion watching her errant husband returning home, and the
second of a composition very close to ours.
90 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty 91
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.