A leaf from a Bhagavata Purana series, the Infant Krishna delivers Nalakuvara and Manigriva from the curse of Sage Narada, North India, probably Jammu, circa 1740

Ex-collection Percy Muir (1894-1979).
Sam Fogg, London, 2006.

Between 1720 and 1750 Jammu became the leading state in the surrounding hills area, controlling Bhoti, Basohli, Bhadu, Bandralta and Mankot. Archer distinguishes two different styles typical of the middle of the eighteenth century, one of which is affected by Mughal influences. Further to the sack of Delhi in 1739, many artists found sanctuary in the royal courts of the Pahari Hills. The painter Nainsukh reached Jammu and by less than a decade (1748) was an established royal painter (Archer 1960, pl.81). The second school was influenced by the neighbouring Basohli production, although Jammu paintings are characterised by delicate and pale colours and simplified geometry (ibid., pls.79 and 80).

Pratapaditya Pal on the other hand attributes this series to Chamba rather than Jammu and associates it with the studio of Mahesh (Pal 1993, p.32). He also advances the hypothesis that the two paintings now in the Jane Greenough Green Collection - which are part of the same series as the present - do not belong to a Bhagavata Purana series but to a group illustrating events from the life of Krishna (Pal 1993, p.32).

Several leaves from this series have appeared on the market, all characterised by sketches on their reverse: four leaves were offered in these rooms, 15 October 1984, lots 110-3, while four others were sold 28 April 1981, lots 159-162, and six more, 17 December 1969, lots 159-164. Two leaves from the same series (also with sketches on the reverse) are published in Fogg 1999, pp.88-89.