A leaf from the 'Palam' Bhagavata Purana: The initiation of Krishna and Balarama, India, Delhi-Agra area, circa 1520-30

Marco Polo Gallery, Paris, 1989.
Ex-private collection, Europe.

This painting belongs to a well-known series known as the ‘Palam’ Bhagavata Purana, named after a region of Delhi where it was once thought to have been painted. It is one of the earliest surviving illustrated series of the Bhagavata Purana. The series only includes illustrations from Book 10 of the Bhagavata Purana which deals with episodes from Krishna’s childhood. The set may have initially comprised approximately 300 illustrated folios but only 200 are thought to have survived. Each folio is composed of two sheets of paper glued together with an illustration on one side and Sanskrit text on the other. Several illustrations are inscribed with one of four names – ‘Sa Nana, Sa Mitharam, Hira Bai or Bagha’. The inscription on the present lot includes ‘Sa Nana’. These were initially incorrectly thought to be names of artists or previous owners. They were added to the folios after the set were made. Daniel Ehnbom has identified a workshop comprising ten anonymous artists who were involved in the production of this series, named Painters A-J. Painter A is thought to be the chief artist. For further discussion on these painters and for folios attributed to each of them, see Ehnbom 2011, pp.77-88.

Painted in the ‘Early Rajput’ style, our illustration displays several characteristics associated with this series. The figures are squat with silhouette profiles and wide-eyed faces. The scenes include palatial Sultanate architecture with colourful textile awnings against a flat red background. Wavy white clouds divide the blue and black sections of the sky.

Ehnbom suggests that this workshop of painters was active in the region around Delhi or Agra, possibly Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna (ibid., p.77). It was a prosperous area under the Lodi Sultanate rulers in the early sixteenth century attracting Jain and Hindu merchant communities, one of whom may have the patron of this set. Andrew Topsfield had previously suggested Mewar as the place of origin for the series (Topsfield 2001, pp.21-52).

Further paintings from the series include two folios, formerly in the Kronos Collections, illustrated in McInerney et al., 2016, cat.no.1, 2, pp.52-55. A painting in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (RVI 907) is illustrated in Guy and Britschgi 2011, no.7, pp.38-39. Three folios are published in Kossak 1997, no.2-4, pp.27-9. Additional paintings were sold at Replica Shoes ’s New York, 16 March 2016, lots 775-7; and more recently in these rooms, 24 October 2018, lot 99.