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拍品专文
A heroine clutches a plantain tree to keep upright as her legs become too weak to support her weight. She looks aimlessly towards the ground as she suffers from a condition known as vipralambhashringara, or love in separation. The Virahini Nayika, or woman in longing, is a popular subject in Pahari painting. She is often depicted alone, feeding animals, staring out into a storm, smoking a hookah, or like the present painting, clinging to a tree.
This sensitively rendered painting captures the damsel’s despair as she experiences the pain of her lovers absence. The artist here clearly delighted in the illustration of vegetation, from the manicured floral patches to the striated banana trees with petals falling from its drooping flower. The ornately illuminated lapis blue borders and overall naturalist details are indicative of the mid-19th century Mandi school of painting.
Compare the present painting to a very similar composition by Sajnu in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession no. IS.12-1956) . The Sajnu painting is inscribed with verses of poetry describing her condition:
It is evening and still the lover does not come. Dressed in a gold-edged sari, frantic with worry, the girl has descended from her balcony. I cannot understand such long delay. She stands clasping the plantain tree. Her face is full of care.
This sensitively rendered painting captures the damsel’s despair as she experiences the pain of her lovers absence. The artist here clearly delighted in the illustration of vegetation, from the manicured floral patches to the striated banana trees with petals falling from its drooping flower. The ornately illuminated lapis blue borders and overall naturalist details are indicative of the mid-19th century Mandi school of painting.
Compare the present painting to a very similar composition by Sajnu in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession no. IS.12-1956) . The Sajnu painting is inscribed with verses of poetry describing her condition:
It is evening and still the lover does not come. Dressed in a gold-edged sari, frantic with worry, the girl has descended from her balcony. I cannot understand such long delay. She stands clasping the plantain tree. Her face is full of care.