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Lot 11

 

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Opaque watercolour heightened with gold on paper

Murshidabad, c. 1760

Image: 8 x 5 in (20 x 12.5 cm)
Folio: 9.5 x 6.5 in (23.75 x 16.25 cm)


A yogini is represented while meditating outside her hut. She loosely holds a rosary in her fingers while a yogapatta, a band passing around her knees and waist, holds her posture. To her left, an emaciated dog, often found in images of yogis and siddhas, keeps her company.

This composition follows the Murshidabad convention where the main image is placed in the middle of the scene juxtaposed with the natural background.

The centre of provincial government was transferred from Dacca to Murshidabad by Nawab Murshid Quli Khan (r. 1703-1727) in 1704, hence the name Murshidabad. The city soon became the centre of Muslim government for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and a school for provincial Mughal painting was quickly established there. It flourished until the end of the eighteenth century before European patronage began to influence the artists, hailing the arrival of the Company School style.

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