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A STIPPLED SKETCH OF SHRI BRIJNATHJI PLAYING HOLI WITH THE GOPIS KOTAH, EARLY 18TH CENTURY image 1
A STIPPLED SKETCH OF SHRI BRIJNATHJI PLAYING HOLI WITH THE GOPIS KOTAH, EARLY 18TH CENTURY image 2
Lot 653

A STIPPLED SKETCH OF SHRI BRIJNATHJI PLAYING HOLI WITH THE GOPIS
KOTAH, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

23 September 2020, 15:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$10,075 inc. premium

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A STIPPLED SKETCH OF SHRI BRIJNATHJI PLAYING HOLI WITH THE GOPIS

KOTAH, EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Black and red ink and white gouache on paper.
The recto's scene stippled throughout its outline; meanwhile on the verso the artist continues variations on the scene.
5 x 7 in. (12.6 x 17.8 cm)

Footnotes

Full of distinctive interactions, this drawing served as a finished template used to layout paintings. Amongst the delightful vignettes imagined by the artist are two girls behind Shri Brijnathji delighting in each other's company, a foremost maiden in front spraying him with a defiant look, and a beautiful woman (top right) catching a glimpse over the crowd; even a little girl spies an opening for a cheap shot up-close. 
 
Here, the painter follows a Rajasthani convention of depicting the ruler in his own likeness as a personification of Shri Brijnathji. The arrangement of the ruler's turban and his distinctive profile, with a long, pointed nose, matches a portrait of Rao Arjun Singh of Kota inspecting a horse (Goswamy & Fischer, Pahari Masters, Zurich, 1992, p.476, fig.19). A related, similarly elaborate composition of Krishna and the Cowherds is published in Pal, The Sensuous Line, Los Angeles, 1976, p.25, no.17.

Provenance
Ray E. Lewis, San Francisco, 1960s
Collection of Milo Cleveland Beach

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