LORD RAMA AND SITA ENTHRONED
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Possibly Guler or Garhwal, Pahari Hills, Northern India, ca. 1810 - 1820

Opaque pigments heightened with gold and silver on wove paper, the vertical-format composition depicting an intimate scene located in a white marble palatial pavilion featuring Lord Rama and his beloved consort Sita sitting on a gem-studded golden throne with a caparisoned parasol, talking to each other, at the base of the throne the loyal Monkey god Hanuman washing Rama's foot, the trio surrounded by a crowd of female attendants playing music for them and holding numerous attributes like a gem-set pandan box, a fly whisk, and Rama's bow and quiver, a male courtier observing the scene from a gate on the opposite side of the courtyard, set within typical Pahari-style concentric decorative borders including a two-tone floral spray on dark blue ground and red speckles on pink ground, mounted on a backless white card frame lined in green iridescent silk, the folio 25.5cm x 21cm, 42cm x 35cm including the mount.

Provenance: previously part of a private Finnish collection, originally purchased in India in the 1970s.