GULER, PUNJAB HILLS, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1780-85

The present illustration is from the Sundar Shringar, a poetic text composed in the early seventeenth century by the poet Sundar Das. The poem details the various moods of love and the classification of literary heroes and heroines (nayaka-nayika bheda). The subject matter is comparable to other literary texts such as the Rasikapriya of Keshav Das and the Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta with Krishna and Radha as the protagonist lovers illustrating various stages of passion and romance.
The Sundar Shringar series with its landscape format and delicate, refined style is closely comparable to the ‘Second Guler’ or Tehri-Garhwal Gita Govinda series of 1765-70. The scenes of the Sundar Shringar are illustrated in architectural settings instead of the lush green landscapes of the Gita Govinda. (J. P. Losty et. al., A Mystical Realm of Love: Pahari Paintings From the Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection, 2017, p.291).
An illustration from the same series sold in these Rooms, 24 October 2019, lot 131. For further pages from this series which have sold at auction, see Bonhams, London, 23 October 2018, lot 149; Sotheby’s, New York, 19 September 2008, lots 201-204; 19 March 2008, lots 205-208; 19 September 2006, lots 1-5; 29 March 2006, lot 149-152; 20 September 2005, lots 106-108; 1 April 2005, lots 110-113.