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Lot 116

An embroidered silk panel depicting Guru Nanak with Bala and Mardana
North India, 19th Century

30 March 2021, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £2,550 inc. premium

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An embroidered silk panel depicting Guru Nanak with Bala and Mardana
North India, 19th Century

of square form, the central pale pink panel embroidered with coloured threads depicting Guru Nanak with a halo flanked by Bhai Mardana and Bhai Bala under a tree, Mardana holding a rebab and Bala with a fly whisk, a bird suspended in a cage, all surrounded by foliate motifs, the embroidered border in yellow and blue with further motifs and tassels, backed
101 x 102 cm.

Footnotes

Panels such as this would have been used as a cloth covering for the sacred Sikh scriptures. The tree is symbolic of the royal umbrella. The scene was likely to have been inspired by Sikh-themed woodblock engravings that were produced in Amritsar in the last quarter of the 19th century (see W. H. McLeod, Popular Sikh Art, 1991).

Additional information