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Lot 3114
ILLUSTRATION FROM THE "SHANGRI" RAMAYANA:
RAMA, SITA, AND LAKSHMANA AT THE HERMITAGE IN PANCAVATI KULU OR JAMMU, 1700-1710
RAMA, SITA, AND LAKSHMANA AT THE HERMITAGE IN PANCAVATI
19 March 2018, 15:00 EDT
New YorkUS$40,000 - US$60,000
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ILLUSTRATION FROM THE "SHANGRI" RAMAYANA:
RAMA, SITA, AND LAKSHMANA AT THE HERMITAGE IN PANCAVATI
RAMA, SITA, AND LAKSHMANA AT THE HERMITAGE IN PANCAVATI
KULU OR JAMMU, 1700-1710
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper;
Inscribed in Takri along the top border: Panchavati Raat Uparant dusrey din pratah kala sri maharaj sita lachhman godavari [...] kar mandal layi kari chaley"; "The following morning after the first night in the forest of Panchavati; Lord Rama, Lakshamana and Sita went for their ablutions to the River Godavari".
Image: 7 1/2 x 11 5/8 in. (19.8 x 28.1 cm);
Folio: 8 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (22.3 x 30.7 cm)
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper;
Inscribed in Takri along the top border: Panchavati Raat Uparant dusrey din pratah kala sri maharaj sita lachhman godavari [...] kar mandal layi kari chaley"; "The following morning after the first night in the forest of Panchavati; Lord Rama, Lakshamana and Sita went for their ablutions to the River Godavari".
Image: 7 1/2 x 11 5/8 in. (19.8 x 28.1 cm);
Folio: 8 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (22.3 x 30.7 cm)
Footnotes
Exemplifying the rich use of color so beloved of Pahari painting, the scene takes place against a brilliant canary yellow ground, illustrating the Ramayana's 'Book of the Forest', Book III, chapters 15 and 16. Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita have awoken from the first night spent in their new forest dwelling, Panchavati, built in exile. Its thatched roof is nestled among a grove of plum trees with Spanish moss descending from the sage canopies. The three heroes have left their belongings behind to head to the river Godavari to perform their morning ablutions. The river bends with considerable movement before them and flows across the bottom of the painting, producing a fertile bank of short and tall grasses. Rama remarks on how the days are getting colder and winter is approaching.
While the combined books of the Shangri Ramayana are rendered in different styles by various hands differing in quality, according to Alka Bagri, Book III is painted by a single, skilled artist:
"[He] closely adheres to the textual source and is perhaps the most consistent and accomplished painter in the Shangri Ramayaṇa series...no other artist can match the range of expression found in his work."
(A. Bagri, "The Illustrations of the Shangri Ramayana, Early Court Paintings in the Punjab Hills," Oxford University Thesis, 2010.)
For comparable works see Archer, Indian Painting from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, vol. II, p.243, no.5 (i); Fogg, Indian Paintings and Manuscripts, 1999, p.86, fig.54; Sotheby's, New York, 14 November 2002, lot 60 and Losty & Francesca Galloway, Court Paintings from Persia and India, London, 2016, pp.70 & 71, no.27. Also for fuller discussion on the disputed origin of the Shangri Ramayana's various books, see Britschgi and Fischer, Rama und Sita, Zurich, 2008, pp.12-4.
Provenance
Mandi Royal Collection
Private European Collection acquired 1969
Rob Dean Art, London, November 2015