Lot Essay
It is unusual for Vishnu to be depicted as Hayagriva as part of a dashavatara set.
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PROBABLY AMBER, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1720
Details
TWO AVATARS OF VISHNU
PROBABLY AMBER, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1720
Probably from a dashavatara or 'ten avatars' series, opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, one painting depicting Vishnu as a half-lion half-man form of Narasimha slaying Hiranyakashipu as Prahlada and his mother look on ; the other depicting Vishnu as a horse-headed Hayagriva set in flames having returned the Vedas to Brahma who is seated before him on a lotus flower with a slain demon in the foreground, each painting with 3ll. of black devanagari on yellow ground cartouche with the first word in red ink, the reverse of each with 4ll. of devanagari, extended restored margins on the first painting
Painting 10.1/8 x 7in. (25.6 x 19cm.); folio 13.3/8 x 8.5/8in. (34 x 21.9cm.) at largest
PROBABLY AMBER, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1720
Probably from a dashavatara or 'ten avatars' series, opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, one painting depicting Vishnu as a half-lion half-man form of Narasimha slaying Hiranyakashipu as Prahlada and his mother look on ; the other depicting Vishnu as a horse-headed Hayagriva set in flames having returned the Vedas to Brahma who is seated before him on a lotus flower with a slain demon in the foreground, each painting with 3ll. of black devanagari on yellow ground cartouche with the first word in red ink, the reverse of each with 4ll. of devanagari, extended restored margins on the first painting
Painting 10.1/8 x 7in. (25.6 x 19cm.); folio 13.3/8 x 8.5/8in. (34 x 21.9cm.) at largest
Special notice
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