Important Notice

Deccan School, Hyderabad
Late 18th and early 19th century
Natural pigments heightened with gold on paper
10.5 x 7.5 in (27 x 19 cm)

NON-EXPORTABLE REGISTERED ANTIQUITY

This is a double-sided work
PROVENANCE
Formerly in the Collection of Khan Bahadur Qazi Farzand Ahmed of Gaya
Thence by descent to his great grandson Qazi Sultan Ahmed


The Bhagwat Purana is an exhaustive text that includes many narratives on Hinduism, and focuses on devotion to Lord Vishnu and his incarnations, especially Krishna. Paintings serve as pictorial accounts of his numerous exploits.

This romantic page has a wonderful subject. A group of gopis are shown in a forest with one of them pointing to a footprint of Krishna in the sand. They begin following the tracks and notice a woman’s footprints as well. They are torn with jealousy and wonder who the lucky one was. Still further, they notice that the smaller footprint has disappeared. They infer that she would have been carried by him. At another spot, the print is yet deeper indicating that he raised her higher up so she could pluck flowers. The reverse of this double-sided page shows a large group of gopis completely lost and yearning for Krishna. Two pages from this series were sold by Saffronart on 15 December 2021 (Lots 8 & 9, Winter Live Auction: Indian Art).

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