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KANGRA, PUNJAB HILLS, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1810 Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, Krishna with Radha and gopis (milkmaids) and gopas (cowherds) playing around a tree, within narrow dark blue border comprising scrolling gilt motifs, red rules and wide pink-speckled margins, the reverse with the numeral ‘4’ in devanagari, the fly-leaf bearing a Mandi royal collection stamp with inventory number ‘548’ Painting 7 ? x 5 ?in. (19.8 x 14.8cm.); folio 12 x 9 5/8in. (30.5 x 24.4cm.)
The composition of our illustration is based on a well-known painting from the Kronos Collection in New York. The Kronos painting is an illustrated folio from the dispersed ‘Kangra Bihari’ Sat Sai (Seven Hundred Verses). Probably painted by the master artist Fattu (active c.1770-1820), it depicts an almost identical scene of villagers playing hide-and-seek as Krishna discovers Radha hidden in a clump of bushes (McInerney, Kossak and Haidar, 2016, cat. no. 90, pp. 234-235). As seen in our painting, a tall grey tree in the centre of the Kronos folio divides the composition into two with Krishna and Radha on the right, gopas and gopis on the left and in the foreground, rolling hills receding into the background with ambling cows returning home and a village in the far distance. Although our painting lacks the oval format of the earlier Sat Sai series, our artist must have been aware of the Kronos painting. Other small differences are visible in the rendition of the tree trunk, the bushes in the foreground and the arrangement of the village houses in the present lot.
The reverse of the Kronos painting is inscribed with a verse from the Sat Sai in black devanagari script. The painting was also previously published in Randhawa, 1966, pp.48-49, plate II. For a translation of the inscription by Randhawa, see ibid., p.48, “Playing the game of hide-and-seek, the two are not satisfied with its pleasures. When one seeks another, they cling to each other in a warm embrace.”
Our painting finds comparison with another illustration in the Kronos Collection depicting Krishna playing hide-and-seek with gopas (cowherds), ascribed to the artist Manaku (the father of Fattu), probably painted in Guler circa 1750-55 (McInerney, Kossak, Haider, 2016, pp.206-207, no.76). Another comparable work is an illustration of Krishna and the gopis, by a master of the first generation after Manaku and Nainsukh, circa 1780-90, which sold in these Rooms recently, 25 May 2017, lot 60. In a vertical format like the present lot, the figures of Krishna, gopas and gopis are in the foreground dressed in a similar manner, a large grey tree dominates the composition, figures of cows and rolling hills are depicted in the receding background.
