A maiden reclining languorously on a bed on a terrace, smoking a hookah, with two female attendants, perhaps an illustration to the story of Madhavanala and Kamakandala Bundi, circa 1780


gouache and gold on paper, red border, stamp to reverse reading Kumar Sangram Singh of Hawalgar 295 x 240 mm.
|PublishedJean Soustiel and Marie-Christine David, Miniatures Orientals de l'Inde-2, Paris, 1974, p.61, no. 48Robert Sigalea, La Médecine Traditionnelle de l'Inde, Geneva, 1995, pl. VIISimon Ray, Indian and Islamic Works of Art, London, 2008, no. 62.A related composition, though without the lush vegetation behind the terrace seen in the present lot, was in the collection of the economist J. K. Galbraith: see M. S. Randhawa and J. K. Galbraith, Indian Painting: the scenes, themes and legends, Bombay 1968, pp. 84-86, pl. 15. It is suggested there that Galbraith's painting may illustrate the folk tale (originally composed by the poet Jodh in 1583) of Madhavanala, the handsome bard, with whom the beautiful courtesan Kamakandala falls in love, overpowered by his charms, as are all women, to the extent that rulers banish the singer from their cities. The two therefore succumb to lovesickness as a result of this enforced separation. For similar examples of the distinctive vegetation in the background, typical of Bundi and Kotah painting, see B. N. Goswamy, Essence of Indian Art, San Francisco 1986, p. 91, no. 56, and p. 93, no. 58.