Krishna and his friends playing hide-and-seek by night, India, Punjab Hills, Guler, circa 1765

The current lot is accompanied by a pigment analysis test carried out by Art Discovery, London, that confirms the materials used are consistent with the dating.

This charming scene depicts a verse from the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana when Krishna, Balarama and their cowherd friends are finally able to play nilayana hide-and-seek following their battles with the various demons. This wonderful painting is a rare depiction of true darkness not previously seen in Pahari painting. Another earlier painting of the same subject from Guler is attributed to Manaku and is in the Kronos collection (see McInerney 2016, no.76). The Manuku painting illustrates the moon and stars in the sky but the scene is still brightly lit. In the current painting the only light is from the shimmering stars, which subtly highlight the boys’ bodies. The trees and hills blend into the shadows, only the colours of the boys clothing and Krishna’s ornaments stand out.

This awareness of lighting was introduced into the Pahari idiom by Nainsukh and subsequently passed on through the generations. Like the earlier Manaku painting the current illustration displays a "friezelike interplay of the figures" (ibid., p.206) that cleverly focuses the viewer’s attention onto the playing boys. The artist’s delicate rendering of the hands and highly modelled bodies of the boys demonstrate the naturalistic approach characteristic of the Pahari tradition. Although the distinctive facial types with their unusual straight noses, sloping brows and narrowing eyes are not typical of Nainsukh or Manaku they exhibit the artist’s competent use of portraiture and highlight the importance of this remarkable painting.