An illustration from the 'Lambargaon' Gita Govinda

KANGRA, CIRCA 1820-25

Details

An illustration from the 'Lambargaon' Gita Govinda
Kangra, circa 1820-25
Depicting Krishna in numerous scenes surrounded by adoring gopis and the reluctant Radha, all set in a wooded landscape with grassy clearings, flowering trees and birds, bordered by a silvered river with gopis at the shore picking lotus stems, the details finely executed in brilliant colors, within a blue border with floral scrolls in gold and a speckled pink outer border, verse from the Gita Govinda in two lines on the reverse
Image: 9.5/8 x 12 in. (23.8 x 32.5 cm.); with borders: 10.7/8 x 14 in. (27.7 x 36.6 cm.)

Sale room notice

Please note that the reverse has 20 lines of text.
Provenance: William H. Wolff Inc., New York.

Lot Essay

Jayadeva's Gita Govinda exalting the love between Radha and Krishna is among the most popular in Sanskrit litarature and has inspired some of the finest Indian painting. This folio is from the second of two well-known series painted in the Kangra style, referred to as the 'Lambargaon' Gita Govinda in reference to its previous owner, the Raja of Lambargaon. They are distinguished by the luxuriant foliage and luminous quality.
Other pages from this series are illustrated in P. Pal, The Classical Tradition in Rajput Painting, 1978, cat. no. 77, from the Paul F. Walter Collection; W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, 1973, vol. II, p. 67 (i-iii); A. Poster, et. al, Realms of Heroism, 1994, cat. no. 226; and D. Ehnbom, Indian Miniatures, The Ehrenfeld Collection, 1985, cat. nos. 125-26.