The infant Krishna seated in a lotus blossom, attributable to an early Master of the Bahu School, Bahu (Jammu), Punjab Hills, circa 1700-10

gouache on paper, laid down on stout paper, inscribed on the recto above and in the background, in takri script

Percival Chater Manuk (1873-1946) and Gertrude Mary Coles (1884-1946), Patna, Dehra Dun and London
Dr William George Archer, O.B.E. (1907-79) and Dr Mildred Archer, O.B.E. (1911-2005), London
Maggs Bros. Ltd., London
Acquired in 1967

Dallapiccola et al. 1982, p.22, no.13

In good overall condition, minor paint losses to red margins, as viewed.
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The infant Krishna sits in a lotus blossom rising from a lotus pond, holding a lotus flower and a butter ball. The unusual element in this miniature is the repeated mantra (recitation during Hindu worship and meditation) which fills the background. The script of this mantra, like the inscription in the border above the miniature, is in delicate takri characters. Krishna was an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu. As a child he was mischievous, always playing pranks on the gopis (female cowherds) with whom he grew up, stealing butter or their clothes when they were bathing. The present painting depicts him with a ball of butter.

The artist termed the Master of the Shangri Ramayana (after the series of which he painted many illustrations) is now also termed the First Bahu Master. In the most recent publication on his style and career Kossak suggests that he ceased painting around 1695 or possibly a few years later, and points out that several other miniatures in very similar style are more likely by followers (Kossak in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, vol.II, p.491). While the present figure of the infant Krishna is close in style to many of the figures in the Shangri Ramayana (see, for example, Kossak, op.cit., figs.1, 3, 5; Archer 1973, vol.2, pp.238-9, pls.1(i)-1(iv)), the unusual background mantra may indicate the work of a colleague and the style overall may be closer to the artist of a series of Ragamala illustrations, the majority of which are in the Victoria and Albert Museum (32) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (6) (see Archer 1973, vol.2, pp.247-9, pls.13(i)-13(xxxii); and see lot 88 in this catalogue). For a related illustration showing Krishna and Radha on a lotus blossom, see Sotheby's, London (The Bachofen von Echt Collection), 29 April 1992, lot 12, and for a further image of Krishna and Radha on a lotus see Archer 1973, vol.II, p.244, pl.12. A particularly close comparison can be made between the face of Krishna here and that of Krishna in a miniature of Krishna Fluting for the Gopas and Cows of circa 1700 in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (see Cummins 2006, p.177, pl.98). For further discussions of early Bahu (Jammu, Kulu) painting see Archer 1973, vol.1., pp.317-336, vol.2, pp.237-252; Goswamy and Fischer 1992, pp.76-93, Kossak in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.491-500.

Percival Manuk (1873-1946), to whom this painting belonged, was the leading barrister and a high court judge in Patna, and formed a large and important collection of Indian miniatures. On his death he bequeathed the larger part to be divided, in 1949, between the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Other miniatures were dispersed at auction and through the London bookdealers Maggs Bros. Ltd.