A PAUBHA DEPICTING A KRISHNA TEMPLE NEPAL, 17TH/18TH CENTURY |

the blue Krishna at center within a four-tiered mandir or temple, adorned with spired turrets, geometric designs and a golden roof, with bands of narrative panels behind depicting frolicking deities, patrons, priests and charioteers, symbolic offerings to Krishna, and an army with generals, all within a delicate foliate border Himalayan Art Resources item no. 18357.

Sotheby's New York, 19 September 1996, lot 18. 

Good overall condition with vibrant colors and exceptional levels of detail intact. Wear, accretion, rubbing and scattered loss to pigment overall, consistent with age and ritual use. Darker band of accretion along upper register, with further wear visible along outer decorative edge on all four sides. Secretion of pigments applied during puja to lower right hand corner. Scattered areas of inpainting visible in upper left quadrant to consolidate pigment. Painting affixed to canvas mount, verso inaccessible and not examined.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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This large and spectacular paubha depicts a shrine to Lord Krishna set against a narrative backdrop relating stories from his life, also known as Krishnalila. At center is the blue skinned Lord in his trademark saffron robes and long garland playing his flute. He is flanked by maidens bearing vinas or lutes and dancers holding aloft morchals. The towering shrine set against an imposing mountainous backdrop, is somewhat reminiscent of the Krishna Mandir at Darbar Square, Patan in Nepal. It is composed of receding tiers with receptacles bearing Vaishnava deities and is crowned by an image of Vishnu seated atop his eagle mount Garuda. The shrine is surrounded by eight registers of narrative scenes in alternating bands of red and green. At the very top are the dasavataras (ten avatars) of Vishnu followed by the stories of Krishna’s birth, the miracles of his childhood in Vrindavana, his play with his companions on the banks of the river Yamuna, his challenge to his tyrant uncle Kamsa, the defeat of Kamsa’s henchmen at the hands of Krishna and Balarama, the final overthrow of Kamsa and the anointment of Krishna’s father Vasudeva as the King of Magadha. The two registers at the bottom bear detailed depictions of the donors who commissioned the painting, no doubt to mark the fulfilment of an important ritual. They are shown making lavish offerings.

Also pictured is a retinue or soldiers clad in red coats, parading with bayonets and flags picturing the long sword or khadga, symbolizing sovereignty, with a garland or mala over it. This emblem appears on the coins of the last Malla rulers of the Kathmandu valley and helps corroborate a late seventeenth/ early eighteenth century date for the painting. In 1769 the Kathmandu Valley fell under the control of the Gorkhas led by Prithvi Narayan Shah who established the unified Kingdom of Nepal.

The creation of narrative scrolls, known as vilampo, to commemorate the performance of particular rites was a tradition known in Nepal since the early medieval period. These were usually devised in two or three registers representing Hindu or Buddhist legends depicted in a continuous narrative style, typically set against a background of alternating red and green bands as in the present painting. Natural elements like mountains or trees acted as artful scene separators. This schema was used to create murals such as the stories of Krishna seen on the walls of the Hanumandhoka Palace in Kathmandu, see Pratapaditya Pal, The Arts of Nepal: Painting, vol. II, Leiden, 1978, nos. 133, 134, 160 and 161. The format also appears as a background to paubhas such as the present lot. Certain compositional elements – the denouement of the figures, their style of dress – display a connection with Rajput painting from Central India of the same period. Compare the present lot with another paubha of very similar style depicting a Vishnu shrine in the collection of the Price of Wales Museum, Bombay, see Ibid, no. 115.