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Lot Essay
Admired for its bold use of color and form, the Basohli school flourished in the Pahari hills in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although it is not known what series this painting belongs to, it possibly derives from a series on Bhanudatta’s Sanskrit love poem Rasamanjari, a popular subject in Basolhi painting classifying and celebrating the moods of love. Here two women, a heroine and her confidante, are depicted with the typical stylized facial type dominated by their large, intense eyes. They sit in a landscape full of brilliant green and ochres closely associated with the school.