Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art

Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 385. An Illustration to a Gita Govinda Series: Radha Pines for Krishna, India, Mewar, circa 1710-20.

Other Properties

An Illustration to a Gita Govinda Series: Radha Pines for Krishna, India, Mewar, circa 1710-20

Auction Closed

September 20, 05:33 PM GMT

Estimate

4,000 - 6,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Other Properties

An Illustration to a Gita Govinda Series: Radha Pines for Krishna

India, Mewar, circa 1710-20


Opaque watercolor on paper heightened with gold


Image: 8¾ by 15¾ in. (22.2 by 40 cm)

Folio: 10 by 17 in. (25.4 by 43.2 cm)

Acquired in New York in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

Leafy bowers festooned with garlands create the stage for this scene from Jayadeva’s great poem celebrating the love of Radha and Krishna. This particular illustration relates Radha’s longing for her beloved Krishna. On the right, Radha is shown seated with her confidant or sakhi against a pallid gray background, reflecting her melancholic mood as she pines for her beloved. She recalls happier times together with Krishna, with whom she is pictured on the far left against a red background. However, now, in the absence of her beloved, her despair is so great that she feels close to death’s door, a feeling which has been interpreted literally as we see Yama, the God of Death pictured at the center of the painting.


A large number of paintings depicting scenes from this cherished ballad of Divine love were produced in the Udaipur atelier and are now widely dispersed. For other illustrations in the Suresh Neotia Collection depicting the theme of Radha’s longing and suffering for her soulmate Krishna, see Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art Treasures: Suresh Neotia Collection, Varanasi, 2006, nos. 87, 88 and 89, pp 124-126.