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Lot Essay
This and the following paintings (lots 222 and 223) are from an early and significant illustrated series of the Bhagavata Purana. According to the scholar Karl Khandalavala, it was painted in western Burhanpur in Gujarat. It is said to have comprised seventy pages before its dispersal by Tula Ram, a Delhi dealer in 1950, and has subsequently been named after him.
Paintings from this dispersed series can be found in many public and private collections around the world. Most scholars agree that the series originated in Western India, but opinions on its dating have varied. The frontispiece for the series is in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (museum no. 1999.136.2) and dated circa 1650. B.N. Goswamy and Usha Bhatia attribute it to Rajasthan or Gujarat, circa 1625 (Painted Visions: The Goenka Collection of Indian Paintings, New Delhi, 1999, pg. 185, no. 145).
Painted in a folkish style, the figures are set amongst floral and vegetal motifs against pale white or yellow grounds. Milo Cleveland Beach has compared the style of painting to the decorative motifs found on early eighteenth century Gujarati printed and embroidered textiles. Beach has suggested that the series probably originated in Surat, circa 1720. (The New Cambridge History of India: Mughal and Rajput Painting, Cambridge, 1992, p. 210, cat. 162). This Bhagavata Purana has also been compared to a Devi Mahatyma series, dated circa 1719, now in the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai (ibid., fig.163).
For other folios and further discussion on this series, see A. Topsfield (ed.), In the Realm of Gods and Kings, London, 2014, pg. 153, no. 59; R. K. Tandan, Indian Miniature Painting 16th Through 19th Centuries, Bangalore, 1982, fig. 14; S.C. Welch, A Flower from Every Meadow, Asia Society, New York, 1974, pp. 38-39, cat.15; S.C. Welch and M.C. Beach, Gods Thrones and Peacocks, Asia Society, New York, 1965, pp. 64-65, cat. 15.
Paintings from this dispersed series can be found in many public and private collections around the world. Most scholars agree that the series originated in Western India, but opinions on its dating have varied. The frontispiece for the series is in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (museum no. 1999.136.2) and dated circa 1650. B.N. Goswamy and Usha Bhatia attribute it to Rajasthan or Gujarat, circa 1625 (Painted Visions: The Goenka Collection of Indian Paintings, New Delhi, 1999, pg. 185, no. 145).
Painted in a folkish style, the figures are set amongst floral and vegetal motifs against pale white or yellow grounds. Milo Cleveland Beach has compared the style of painting to the decorative motifs found on early eighteenth century Gujarati printed and embroidered textiles. Beach has suggested that the series probably originated in Surat, circa 1720. (The New Cambridge History of India: Mughal and Rajput Painting, Cambridge, 1992, p. 210, cat. 162). This Bhagavata Purana has also been compared to a Devi Mahatyma series, dated circa 1719, now in the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai (ibid., fig.163).
For other folios and further discussion on this series, see A. Topsfield (ed.), In the Realm of Gods and Kings, London, 2014, pg. 153, no. 59; R. K. Tandan, Indian Miniature Painting 16th Through 19th Centuries, Bangalore, 1982, fig. 14; S.C. Welch, A Flower from Every Meadow, Asia Society, New York, 1974, pp. 38-39, cat.15; S.C. Welch and M.C. Beach, Gods Thrones and Peacocks, Asia Society, New York, 1965, pp. 64-65, cat. 15.