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Lot 3106
RADHA WATCHING A STORM SIGNED MOHAMMADI, MANDI, DATED 1854
19 March 2018, 15:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$37,500 inc. premium
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RADHA WATCHING A STORM
SIGNED MOHAMMADI, MANDI, DATED 1854
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; verso inscribed:
S[amvat] 30 re Bha[draprada] pra[vishte]10 Shri Miyan Sahaba ki nazar kita ch[tere]. Mahamadiye; translated, "Presented to Miyan Saheb (exalted member of the royal family) on the 10th day of the Bhadrapada month of the year 30 (corresponding to CE 1854) by the painter Mohammadi".
Image: 9 1/3 x 6 5/8 in. (24 x 17 cm);
Folio: 11 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (30.3 x 25 cm)
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; verso inscribed:
S[amvat] 30 re Bha[draprada] pra[vishte]10 Shri Miyan Sahaba ki nazar kita ch[tere]. Mahamadiye; translated, "Presented to Miyan Saheb (exalted member of the royal family) on the 10th day of the Bhadrapada month of the year 30 (corresponding to CE 1854) by the painter Mohammadi".
Image: 9 1/3 x 6 5/8 in. (24 x 17 cm);
Folio: 11 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (30.3 x 25 cm)
Footnotes
The painter evokes the atmosphere of the monsoon season with a turbulent sky of billowing rain clouds and lightning strikes. The passionate nayika clad in a richly ornamented dress looks back to her courtesans, gesturing in the hope that the arrival of the rain will hasten the return of her lover. The powerful and brooding presence of the peacock signifies both the arrival of the rainy season and amplifies the absence of the nayak.
Mohammadi (Mohammad Bax) was the disciple of Sajnu, whose prominence as a master artist became fully realized under his new patron Raja Ishvari Sen of Mandi after he left the court of Kangra around 1804. The style favored in Mandi in the early decades of the 19th century diverted towards curious subjects and a naïve style under Shamsher Sen. Sajnu and Mohammadi followed the conventions developed in the Guler and Kangra school and focused on the classic Bharamasa and Nayika love poetry, such as the present painting.
This work is important as it shows the high quality of painting still produced in the middle of the 19th century, as indicated by the date on the verso, corresponding to 1854 CE. It remains one of the very few folios bearing the artist's signature. However, the name of the patron in the inscription remains absent and is only referred to by the honorific title Miyan Saheb. It likely refers to Raja Bijai Sen, who ruled Mandi from 1851 to 1902.
Compare with another similar scene in the San Diego Museum of Art in Goswamy & Smith, Domains of Wonder, San Diego, 2005. pp.252-3, fig.108. Also see a closely related work of similar size dated circa 1840, entitled, Palace Women Watching the Approaching Storm, sold by Christie's, New York, 18 September 2013, lot 363
Provenance
Theo Brown and Paul Woner, San Francisco, 1970s-1982
Private Collection, Los Angeles