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Lot Essay
This painting belongs to a jatmala or 'Garland of Castes' series. The accompanying poem was composed by the poet Dev which describes the women of different castes. They are depicted as the archetypal heroine (nayika) in the presence of Krishna. On our painting, Kamangarin is the wife of Kamangar and was engaged in the activity of weaving rope. These paintings were previously identified as illustrations of musical modes or ragamalas and commonly attributed to Malwa or Malpura. The colourful series is renowned for its typical three registers, large format, colourful palette and for the white architecture subdividing the scenes. Both Konrad Seitz in Orchha, Datia, Panna: Miniaturen von der rajputischen Höfen Bundelkhands (1580-1820), 2015 and Narmada Prasad Upadhyaya in Paintings of Bundelkhand, Some Remembered, Some Forgotten, Some not yet Discovered, 2016 have recently reattributed the series to Bundelkhand. Upadhyaya suggests the series, to which this work belongs, is executed by a single artist.
A folio from the same series sold at Christie's, New York, 21-28 September 2018, lot 637. Others are published in Pratapaditya Pal, Pleasure Gardens of the Mind, Los Angeles, 1993, pp.116-119 (there attributed to Marwar) and in Upadhyaya, op.cit., pp.146-153.
We would like to thank Narmada Prasad Upadhyaya for his reading of the couplet on the reverse of this painting.
A folio from the same series sold at Christie's, New York, 21-28 September 2018, lot 637. Others are published in Pratapaditya Pal, Pleasure Gardens of the Mind, Los Angeles, 1993, pp.116-119 (there attributed to Marwar) and in Upadhyaya, op.cit., pp.146-153.
We would like to thank Narmada Prasad Upadhyaya for his reading of the couplet on the reverse of this painting.