ARTS OF INDIA

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A GOLD MERCHANT
STYLE OF SAJNU, MANDI OR KANGRA, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1810
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, he sits on a raised platform
holding a scale with gold beads and a weight, bags of gold and silver laid
before him, within a walled courtyard, smaller fgures around him, others
watch the scene from windows and arcades, set within an oval medallion, with
fnely illuminated spandrels, foral borders on blue ground and pink-speckled
margins, protective fy-leaf inscribed with three lines of devanagari script
10º x 8æin. (26.8 x 22.2cm.)
£6,000-8,000 $8,600-11,000
€7,500-10,000
PROVENANCE:
Ex Royal Mandi Collection, (No. 1280)
68
RAMA AND SITA IN THEIR FOREST ABODE
PROBABLY GULER, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1800
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, seated on a mat, gazing at
each other, Rama holding his bow, other arms laid in front of him, Lakshman
wearing a leopard skin over his back, seated by a fre, ascetics by a river in the
background, a blossoming tree above against a red sky background, with black
borders,
9 x 6æin. (22.7 x 17.3cm.)
£8,000-12,000 $12,000-17,000
€10,000-15,000
PROVENANCE:
The Theodore Allen Heinrich Collection (1910-1981), Toronto, Canada
The sharp architectural lines populated by expressive fgures is similar to a
painting also attributed to Mandi and dated to circa 1810-20 in the Victoria
and Albert Museum (W. G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills,
London, 1973, no.49, p.276). W. G. Archer cites that Sajnu was recorded as
having been a painter at Kangra prior to moving to Mandi. He suggests that
Sajnu’s strong sense of geometry has its origins in his formative years in
Kangra (W. G. Archer, op.cit., p. 361).
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