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Lot Essay
This delightful illustration is part of a known Ramayana series of 15 paintings attributed to Chamba in the early nineteenth century by Jeremiah Losty. The architecture is particularly distinctive, with individual bricks and mortar carefully depicted. This is similar to the Sudama-Charita series of 1775-90 from Garhwal, yet the treatment of landscape and oceans is very close to that found in Chamba. The Chamba Aranya Kanda of 1780-85 is again similar but the present series lacks a little of the earlier refinement. Hence 1800-1810 is suggested as it allows enough time for Garhwali stylistic influence to be felt following the flight of artists from Garhwal to Chamba to escape the Gurkha conquest of 1804 (Simon Ray and Jeremiah Losty, 15 Paintings Depicting the Adventures of Hanuman on Lanka from the Ramayana, Simon Ray Ltd, 2016.) Another painting from this series was sold in Christie’s New York, 23 March 2022, lot 475.
This scene shows Hanuman exploring the city of Lanka, home of the evil Ravana who has abducted Sita. Protected by golden rampart and powerful rakhasas, the god must reduce his usually mighty form to that of a cat and stealthily enter at night guided by moon and stars. The Goddess of Lanka, a deity that manifests as a demon and protects the city, bans Hanuman from entry finding his given reasons for entry unsatisfactory forcing the god to physically overcome the demon, injuring but not killing her. She reveals a prophecy to Brahma that when she is overcome physically by a monkey, the titans guarding the city will no longer be invincible and the city will fall. This allows Hanuman to enter the city though the front gate and explore the city, entering even the zenana and chambers of the demon king Ravana. Our illustration serves as a continuous narrative to this episode and the monkey god is shown five time in his attempts to locate Sita, in one instance only his tail being visible!
Dr Alma Latifi, a prominent member of the Indian civil service, collected Indian works of art from the 1930s until the 1950s. He amassed a large collection of Indian art but predominantly paintings. Some of these were loaned to the Royal Academy, London, for their exhibition The Art of India and Pakistan, 1947-48.
This scene shows Hanuman exploring the city of Lanka, home of the evil Ravana who has abducted Sita. Protected by golden rampart and powerful rakhasas, the god must reduce his usually mighty form to that of a cat and stealthily enter at night guided by moon and stars. The Goddess of Lanka, a deity that manifests as a demon and protects the city, bans Hanuman from entry finding his given reasons for entry unsatisfactory forcing the god to physically overcome the demon, injuring but not killing her. She reveals a prophecy to Brahma that when she is overcome physically by a monkey, the titans guarding the city will no longer be invincible and the city will fall. This allows Hanuman to enter the city though the front gate and explore the city, entering even the zenana and chambers of the demon king Ravana. Our illustration serves as a continuous narrative to this episode and the monkey god is shown five time in his attempts to locate Sita, in one instance only his tail being visible!
Dr Alma Latifi, a prominent member of the Indian civil service, collected Indian works of art from the 1930s until the 1950s. He amassed a large collection of Indian art but predominantly paintings. Some of these were loaned to the Royal Academy, London, for their exhibition The Art of India and Pakistan, 1947-48.