SHRI RAMA AND SITA ON A THRONE
PROPERTY FROM THE DEXTER COLLECTION
Possibly Chamba or Basohli, Punjab Hills, Northern India, 18th - 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the horizontal composition depicting the Hindu god Rama, one of the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu, and his wife Sita, both seated on a polygonal throne with cusped backrest, the feet of the throne in the typical design of charpai (or mir-i farsh) feet, the couple wearing several strands of pearls and encrusted golden jewellery, Rama with his iconic bow and the typical Basohli crown with lotus buds, his brother Lakshmana standing to the right and wearing a similar crown, whilst agitating a fly-whisk over the head of the beloved couple, to the left the Hindu god Hanuman, holding his hands in prayer, demonstrating his devotion to Rama and his wife, the scene set against the vibrant and traditional Punjab Hills ochre-yellow background, and within black and white rules and bright red borders, the recto plain, 18.4cm x 27.5cm.

The vibrant and dramatic effect of this painting is achieved through the use of limited compositional elements which are magnified to a larger size suited to fill the picture. This arrangement is one of the typical features of the 17th and 18th-century painting production of the Punjab Hills area, especially in the centres of Basohli, Nurpur and Chamba. Another typical element featuring in the creations of these schools was the use of a pulsating, vivid background with ochre yellow as primary colour encapsulated within bright red borders, a chromatic duo which not only exalted the figures but also provided the perfect backdrop for the artist to depict further coloured and patterned textiles as ornaments for his subjects (C. Glynn in Ragamala: Paintings from India, 2011, p. 47). A similar composition attributed to the same school and with a Vaishnava subject, Vishnu in his Matsyavatara form, is being offered next week at Christie's London, 1 April 2021, lot 39.

* NOTICE * Please see R. Skelton, Indian Miniatures from the XVth to XIXth Centuries, 1961, pl. 32 for an earlier example dated 1690 - 1700. Our lot seems to be a later copy of this earlier Basohli composition, once part of the Alice Boner collection and currently part of the Rietberg Museum's collection.

Dimensions: 18.4cm x 27.5cm