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Lot Essay
The present illustration is from the Sundar Shringar, a poetic text composed in the early seventeenth century by the poet Sundar Das. The poem details the various moods of love and the classification of literary heroes and heroines (nayaka-nayika bheda). The subject matter is comparable to other literary texts such as the Rasikapriya of Keshav Das and the Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta with Krishna and Radha as the protagonist lovers illustrating various stages of passion and romance.
The Sundar Shringar series with its landscape format and delicate, refined style is closely comparable to the ‘Second Guler’ or Tehri-Garhwal Gita Govinda series of 1765-70. The scenes of the Sundar Shringar are illustrated in architectural settings instead of the lush green landscapes of the Gita Govinda. (Losty, 2017, p.291). The present painting, a beautiful rendition of love and longing, has been attributed to an artist from Guler, one of the sons of the master artists of Pahari painting, the brothers Manaku and Nainsukh. The artist would have been aware of the earlier Tehri-Garhwal Gita Govinda series which has also been attributed to the same family workshop. For two folios from the series formerly in the collection of Eva and Konrad Seitz, see Losty, ibid., nos. 81 & 82, pp.292-295. The bashful nayika in cat.81 with her gaze lowered is strikingly similar to our heroine waiting for the arrival of her lover.
For further pages from this series which have sold at auction, see Bonhams, London, 23 October 2018, lot 149; Sotheby’s, New York, 19 September 2008, lots 201-204; 19 March 2008, lots 205-208; 19 September 2006, lots 1-5; 29 March 2006, lot 149-152; 20 September 2005, lots 106-109; 1 April 2005, lots 110-113.
The Sundar Shringar series with its landscape format and delicate, refined style is closely comparable to the ‘Second Guler’ or Tehri-Garhwal Gita Govinda series of 1765-70. The scenes of the Sundar Shringar are illustrated in architectural settings instead of the lush green landscapes of the Gita Govinda. (Losty, 2017, p.291). The present painting, a beautiful rendition of love and longing, has been attributed to an artist from Guler, one of the sons of the master artists of Pahari painting, the brothers Manaku and Nainsukh. The artist would have been aware of the earlier Tehri-Garhwal Gita Govinda series which has also been attributed to the same family workshop. For two folios from the series formerly in the collection of Eva and Konrad Seitz, see Losty, ibid., nos. 81 & 82, pp.292-295. The bashful nayika in cat.81 with her gaze lowered is strikingly similar to our heroine waiting for the arrival of her lover.
For further pages from this series which have sold at auction, see Bonhams, London, 23 October 2018, lot 149; Sotheby’s, New York, 19 September 2008, lots 201-204; 19 March 2008, lots 205-208; 19 September 2006, lots 1-5; 29 March 2006, lot 149-152; 20 September 2005, lots 106-109; 1 April 2005, lots 110-113.