ATTRIBUTABLE TO PURKHU OR HIS WORKSHOP, KANGRA, PUNJAB HILLS, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1800-15

This illustration from the Bhagavata Purana is not one found commonly illustrated. When Mathura was threatened by an enormous army led by Jarasandha, Krishna took the decision to move the Yadava clans to the golden city of Dwarka for safety. In the illustration we see Balarama twice. Once leading one of the Yadava clans, the Vrishni, into the city and again in the top right in conversation with Krishna and Vasudeva. Despite ultimately being victorious in the Kurukshetra War, a few years later the clans destroy each other in a fratricidal war shortly followed by the death of Balarama and Krishna.

The present lot has a number of key characteristics relating this painting to Purkhu and his workshop. The large format with dark blue inner borders framed by a red margin with white rules is shared with a number of paintings attributed either to the master or his school. The complex architecture is another dominant characteristic of the narrative paintings of Purkhu and his workshop. Rather than being interested in conveying spatial depth, structures appear at different angles and are connected by strong diagonals which flow with the narrative of the scene. Typical of the workshop of Purkhu we also find careful inscriptions hovering above and naming the protagonists of the scene.

In particular, the present work relates very closely to another an illustration attributable to Purkhu from the Bhagavata Purana depicting the Wedding of Krishna which was formerly in the Sven Gahlin Collection and sold in these Rooms 1 April 2021, lot 61. Both paintings share the characteristics described above and some of the characters populating the wider scenes appear to be the same. For example the drummer on horseback in the centre of our painting is almost an exact copy of the drummer in the band in the centre right of the previously sold work.

Purkhu was the principal artist of the Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra (r. 1775 – 1823) and was active between 1780 and 1820. His output includes a number of large court scenes as well as several large-format series of Hindu epics including the Shiva Purana, Rasikapriya, Bhagavata Purana, Gita Govinda, Harivamsa and Mahabharata. For a further biography of Purkhu and description of his style and that of his workshop see B. N. Goswamy and E. Fischer, Pahari Masters, New Delhi, 2009 (reprint), pp. 368-67.

For other paintings attributed to Purkhu and his workshop which have sold in these Rooms see 31 March 2022, lot 95; 25 May 2017, lots 66 and 67; and 10 June 2015, lot 71. Others have sold in Christie’s New York including an illustration to the Mahabharata which sold on 22 September 2021, lot 461 and an illustration to the Gita Govinda which sold 17 March 2021, lot 436 for $575,000.