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Lot Essay
Radha sits perched upon a low chair, her attention turned toward a woman delivering a message from her lover Krishna. She is nude, save for an assortment of gold bangles, a nose ring and the long tresses of black hair that fall in sinuous lines down her back and chest. The accoutrements of her toilette are arranged on a gold dish below the platform. Krishna spies on the intimate moment from atop the building.
This scene is known from the Sat Sai, a work by the 17th century poet Bihari emphasizing the love between Krishna and Radha. According to the verses, the messenger tells Radha:
Dear girl, delicate as Lakshmi, Krishna has stopped smearing his bosom with camphor-and-sandal paste, fearing it will be a burden to your tender image enshrined in his heart. Go to him and remove the grief of his parting.
Two similar scenes from the Guler school are published in W.G. Archer 1973, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, nos. 66 and 68, p. 118. Also see lot 474 in this sale.
This scene is known from the Sat Sai, a work by the 17th century poet Bihari emphasizing the love between Krishna and Radha. According to the verses, the messenger tells Radha:
Dear girl, delicate as Lakshmi, Krishna has stopped smearing his bosom with camphor-and-sandal paste, fearing it will be a burden to your tender image enshrined in his heart. Go to him and remove the grief of his parting.
Two similar scenes from the Guler school are published in W.G. Archer 1973, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, nos. 66 and 68, p. 118. Also see lot 474 in this sale.