AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE BALAKANDA: GANESHA ATTENDED BY LADIES

MEWAR, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1700

Details

AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE BALAKANDA: GANESHA ATTENDED BY LADIES
MEWAR, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1700
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the elephant-headed god depicted with rotund body, he wears a crown topped with a lotus, leaning against a large purple bolster, he holds various implements, a lady massages his hand, a rat in the foreground, other ladies attend to him, under a canopy, an inscription in black devanagari at top within a yellow cartouche, numbered 3, within black rules and red borders
10¼ x 15 7/8in. (26 x 40.5cm.)

Provenance

Acquired before 1991.

Sale room notice

Please note that this lot is illustrated in the middle left of page 24 in the printed catalogue.

Brought to you by

Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse

abutlerwheelhouse@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2326

Lot Essay

The Balakanda or 'the book of childhood' is the first book of Valmiki's Ramayana. This folio being the third folio was close to the beginning of the manuscript. It is therefore probable that an image of Ganesha was chosen for this illustration to provide the text with auspicious blessings for the start of the text.

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