Property of a Louisiana Collector

A Leaf from a Bhagavata Purana Series: Krishna and Balarama Slaying Kamsa's Dhobi

INDIA, POPULAR MUGHAL, PROBABLY BIKANER, CIRCA 1600-1625

細節

A Leaf from a Bhagavata Purana Series: Krishna and Balarama Slaying Kamsa's Dhobi
India, Popular Mughal, probably Bikaner, circa 1600-1625
Painted against an ochre ground depicting Krishna and his brother by a flowing river with a decapitated figure before them, a group of running figures reaching for garments off a clothesline amidst shrubs, and a grazing donkey at far right, the reverse bearing inscription in Devanagari and Bikaner stamp
Image: 6 5/8 x 9½ in. (16.8 x 24.2 cm.); folio: 9 5/8 x 11 5/8 in. (24.5 x 29.5 cm.)

來源

Spink & Son
The Ehrenfeld Collection

出版

Spink & Son, Painting for the Royal Courts of India, 1976, p. 14, no. 44;
D. Ehnbom, Indian Miniatures, The Ehrenfield Collection, 1985, p. 52, cat. no. 18.

拍品專文

Krishna and his brother Balarama are travelling to Mathura to fulfill a prophecy to kill their evil maternal uncle Kamsa, usurper of the Mathuran throne. On the way they meet an arrogant washerman who Krishna dispatches handily. In the ensuing confusion, the brothers take necessary supplies from the clothesline.
This painting is from the same dispersed manuscript series as the following lot. See S. Fogg, Indian Paintings and Manuscripts, 1999, pp. 36-37, where two other examples of this manuscript have been published. Fogg notes that the large series was painted by at least two artists if not more, which account for the stylistic differences amongst the leaves.