Two paintings from a dispersed Rasikapriya series

INDIA, MALWA, CIRCA 1634

Details

Two paintings from a dispersed Rasikapriya series
India, Malwa, circa 1634
The first of Bhayanaka rasa with Krishna and a gopi flanked by her sakhis and a monkey at far right; the second a double-sided painting, one side with Krishna seated on a bed inside speaking to a woman just outside the door while her friend stands behind her looking the other way, the other side with Krishna and his lover on a bed, her friend keeping watch outside, both sides with identical background, including a patch of blue sky at upper left and a monkey on the roof above; each painting with text in yellow boxes above and below
Opaque pigments and gold on wasli
8½ x 6 3/8 in. (21.5 x 16.2 cm.) (2)

Provenance

(second painting) Heeramaneck Collection sold at Christie's London, 11 June 1984, lot 53
George P. Bickford Collection, aquired b 16 January 1969
Private collection, New York, by inheritance

Literature

S.E. Lee, Rajput Painting, 1960, cat. no. 82
Krannert Art Museum, Art of India and Southest Asia, 1964, fig. 5a
S. Czuma, Indian Art from the George P. Bickford Collection, 1975, cat. no. 68.

Exhibited

Rajput Painting, The Asia Society, New York, 1960
Art of India and Southest Asia, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, 17 May - 14 June, 1964
Indian Art from the George P. Bickford Collection, 14 January - 16 February 1975 at The Cleveland Museum of Art; 20 March - 25 April, 1975 at the University Art Museum, The University of Texas in Austin; 5 October - 9 November 1975 at Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois in Champaign; 3 February - 7 March 1976 at Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; 28 March - 3 May 1976 at University Gallery, University of Florida in Gainesville; 28 May - 30 July 1976 at Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona; 5 October - 28 November 1976 at University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley; 2 January - 13 February 1977 at University of Michigan Museum of Art at Ann Arbor.

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Lot Essay

The Bhayanaka rasa is one of the eight rasas and means "fear." This painting adeptly conveys that mood, with the dark sky and heavy clouds above, causing Radha to cling in fear to Krishna, who embraces her in comfort.

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