
Dora Tan
Head of Sale, Specialist
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Sold for US$22,812.50 inc. premium
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Head of Sale, Specialist

International Director
This delightful painting from a Panchatantra shows a goat being carried by a herd of elephants to meet a tiger. The Panchatantra (or 'Five Discourses') is an ancient Sanskrit collection of fables acting as mirrors for princes, quite Machiavellian at times. The anthology was immensely influential on the literary traditions of western Asia, inspiring versions in Arabic (Kalila wa Dimna) and Persian (Anvar-i Suhayli). The Persian iteration came back to India, where illustrated versions were prepared in the Mughal court and in the Deccan in the 16th century. No early illustrated versions have survived from the Rajput courts, but according to Topsfield three versions were prepared in the Udaipur court studio just before 1700, with a vernacular text, two in a vertical format as here, and a slightly-later one in a horizontal format (Topsfield, Court Paintings at Udaipur, 2001, p.99).
Provenance:
Mewar Royal Collection
Collection of Dr. Claus Virch
Sotheby's, New York, 17 March 2015, lot 1137