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拍品專文
This splendidly detailed folio is from a well-known Bhagavata Purana series produced at the Bikaner court in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The present folio is a superb example of the series, famed for its miniature proportions, delicate coloring, and elegant and meticulous details. Pages from this series are extensively published, with scholars often praising the works for their perfect precision of line and splendid treatment of figures, architecture, vegetation, and overall composition. Estimated to comprise about one hundred pages in total, the series can be considered among the finest examples of Rajput painting.
The dynamic scene in the present folio illustrates Krishna defeating Bakasura, one of the many demons sent by King Khamsa to wreak havoc on Krishna and the Vraj region. In this event from Book X of the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna, his brother Balarama, and their fellow cowherds bring their cattle to graze near a pond, where a monstrous demon in the form of a colossal crane, Bakasura, arises from the water and swallows Lord Krishna. While inside the demon, Krishna emits so much heat that Bakasura is forced to expel the young lord with his vomit. Krishna then defeats the crane demon, as illustrated in the present folio, by prying its beak apart until it snaps.
The present folio depicts the powerful battle with an unexpected sense of playfulness and whimsy. Balarama and the cowherds cheer Krishna on from behind, while their cattle leap over each other. Celestial deities shower the victorious Krishna with flowers. The distant hills, sprouted with trees and shrubbery, are glazed in a fog that fades into a gold washed sky. The sky is thunderous, yet the state of weather is non-threatening, as curvilinear bolts of lightening gently sprout from the swirling grey clouds. The silver pond is filled with ducks, carp, and finely rendered lotus blossoms, while monkeys and various species of birds perch in the trees. Expanses of architecture, carefully rendered in miniature in the foreground and background of the painting, take after the design of Rajput princely states.
Stylistically, this folio exemplifies Bikaner’s close cultural connections with the Mughal court. Mughal artistic traditions are synthesized through the spatial recession of the undulating hills, the landscape’s pale green color, the misted horizon, the thorough detailing, and the miniature figures. The vigilant attention to vegetation, architecture, and wildlife further recall the classical Mughal ideals. Meanwhile, the beautifully patterned trees are reminiscent of the stylized convention native to western Indian and Rajput painting. The figures - tall, slender and cinched at the waist - are without a doubt characteristic of local Bikaner workshops.
This illustration is from a very large and now dispersed set that was once a part of the Bikaner Palace Collection. Work on this series is said to have begun during the reign of Maharaja Anup Singh (r. 1669-98) and completed during the reign of Maharaja Sujan Singh (r. 1700-36). While some scholars speculated production took place over two decades at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, others have implied it could have taken fifty or more years to finish. Undoubtedly, several master artists from the royal atelier at Bikaner have contributed to these paintings.
The present page, demonstrably one of the more impressive folios of the series, was reputedly on display in living room of the Mahajara at Lallgarh Palace. It later became part of the esteemed collection of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck before entering the present collection in 2002. Other pages from this series are now in important museum and private collections, including the San Diego Museum of Art (Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, acc. no. 1990.785), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. nos. 1974.219 and 2005.361), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Paul F. Walter Collection, acc. no. M.86.345.2), the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution (acc. no. S2018.1.46), the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia (acc. no. 1997.15), the Kronos Collection (see T. McInerney, S. Kossak and N. Haider, Divine Pleasures: Painting from India’s Rajput Courts: the Kronos Collections, New York, 2016, pp. 100-1, cat. no. 25), the Goenka Collection (see B.N. Goswamy, Painted Visions: The Goenka Collection of Indian Paintings, New Delhi, 1991, pp. 151-4, cat nos. 120-3), and the collection of the late William Ehrenfeld (see D. Ehnbom, Indian Miniatures: The Ehrenfeld Collection, New York, 185, pp. 148-9, cat 68).
The dynamic scene in the present folio illustrates Krishna defeating Bakasura, one of the many demons sent by King Khamsa to wreak havoc on Krishna and the Vraj region. In this event from Book X of the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna, his brother Balarama, and their fellow cowherds bring their cattle to graze near a pond, where a monstrous demon in the form of a colossal crane, Bakasura, arises from the water and swallows Lord Krishna. While inside the demon, Krishna emits so much heat that Bakasura is forced to expel the young lord with his vomit. Krishna then defeats the crane demon, as illustrated in the present folio, by prying its beak apart until it snaps.
The present folio depicts the powerful battle with an unexpected sense of playfulness and whimsy. Balarama and the cowherds cheer Krishna on from behind, while their cattle leap over each other. Celestial deities shower the victorious Krishna with flowers. The distant hills, sprouted with trees and shrubbery, are glazed in a fog that fades into a gold washed sky. The sky is thunderous, yet the state of weather is non-threatening, as curvilinear bolts of lightening gently sprout from the swirling grey clouds. The silver pond is filled with ducks, carp, and finely rendered lotus blossoms, while monkeys and various species of birds perch in the trees. Expanses of architecture, carefully rendered in miniature in the foreground and background of the painting, take after the design of Rajput princely states.
Stylistically, this folio exemplifies Bikaner’s close cultural connections with the Mughal court. Mughal artistic traditions are synthesized through the spatial recession of the undulating hills, the landscape’s pale green color, the misted horizon, the thorough detailing, and the miniature figures. The vigilant attention to vegetation, architecture, and wildlife further recall the classical Mughal ideals. Meanwhile, the beautifully patterned trees are reminiscent of the stylized convention native to western Indian and Rajput painting. The figures - tall, slender and cinched at the waist - are without a doubt characteristic of local Bikaner workshops.
This illustration is from a very large and now dispersed set that was once a part of the Bikaner Palace Collection. Work on this series is said to have begun during the reign of Maharaja Anup Singh (r. 1669-98) and completed during the reign of Maharaja Sujan Singh (r. 1700-36). While some scholars speculated production took place over two decades at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, others have implied it could have taken fifty or more years to finish. Undoubtedly, several master artists from the royal atelier at Bikaner have contributed to these paintings.
The present page, demonstrably one of the more impressive folios of the series, was reputedly on display in living room of the Mahajara at Lallgarh Palace. It later became part of the esteemed collection of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck before entering the present collection in 2002. Other pages from this series are now in important museum and private collections, including the San Diego Museum of Art (Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, acc. no. 1990.785), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. nos. 1974.219 and 2005.361), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Paul F. Walter Collection, acc. no. M.86.345.2), the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution (acc. no. S2018.1.46), the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia (acc. no. 1997.15), the Kronos Collection (see T. McInerney, S. Kossak and N. Haider, Divine Pleasures: Painting from India’s Rajput Courts: the Kronos Collections, New York, 2016, pp. 100-1, cat. no. 25), the Goenka Collection (see B.N. Goswamy, Painted Visions: The Goenka Collection of Indian Paintings, New Delhi, 1991, pp. 151-4, cat nos. 120-3), and the collection of the late William Ehrenfeld (see D. Ehnbom, Indian Miniatures: The Ehrenfeld Collection, New York, 185, pp. 148-9, cat 68).