A DEVOTEE AND A WHITE-CLAD SADHU'S GATHERING IN THE WILDERNESS Kangra, Pahari Sc…

Description

A DEVOTEE AND A WHITE-CLAD SADHU'S GATHERING IN THE WILDERNESS Kangra, Pahari School, Himalayan Foothills, Northern India, ca. 1840 – 1860 Opaque pigments heightened with little gold on wove paper, the horizontal-format composition depicting a white-clad hermit or sadhu seated cross-legged on a river bank in conversation with a yellow-clad devotee, both figures wearing mala rosary necklaces with rudraksha beads, usually associated with the cult of the Hindu God Shiva, the encrusted bazubands, gold bangles and earrings indicating the high-class status of both sitters, the yellow-clad devotee possibly a ruler who renounced of his worldly possessions (sannyasin), behind them a gazelle and two tigers just by the river banks, and lush lotus flowers floating in the river in the foreground, set within typical Kangra Pahari concentric decorative borders with white flower scroll on cobalt blue ground and dark red rules on light pink ground, mounted, glazed and framed, 26.5cm x 33.5cm including the frame.

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A DEVOTEE AND A WHITE-CLAD SADHU'S GATHERING IN THE WILDERNE

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Estim. 800 - 1 600 GBP

A THANGKA DEPICTING SUBINDA, THE RAISED PAGODA LUOHAN, 19TH CENTURY A THANGKA DEPICTING SUBINDA, THE RAISED PAGODA LUOHAN, 19TH CENTURY Sino-Tibetan. Finely painted with the arhat seated on a cushion and holding up a tray from which a pagoda rises, under a blossoming prunus tree, by a table altar with offerings attended to by two monks below an overhanging craggy rock, his shoes on a low table before him. All below Samantabhadra seated on his elephant mount flanked by blue- and white-skinned attendants and a devotee as well as Buddha standing beneath a rainbow surrounded by attendant deities and a monk, amid swirling clouds. Within a verdant landscape with a meandering river, flanked to one side by blue Mahakala and to the other by three seated monks. Provenance: German trade, acquired from a private estate in Berlin. The reverse of the frame with an old label, reading ‘Koheji’s Arabesque Gallery. Picture Framing. Manama, Bahrain’. Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, minimal soiling, minute creasing, and light flaking. Dimensions: Image size76.9 x 51.2 cm, Size incl. frame 78.8 x 54 cm Distemper and gold on cloth. Framed behind glass. Expert’s note: The present thangka stems from a set of sixteen or eighteen depicting arhats. One such set, following an original composition tracing back to the Yongle period, is held within the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Zangchuan Fojiao Tangka-Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 189, no. 175. Literature comparison: Compare two related thangkas of Arhats, dated to the 19 th century, in the Rubin Museum of Art, accession numbers C2002.16.2 and C2002.16.3, each illustrated in Himalayan Art Resources, item numbers 65102 and 65103. Note the rockwork on these thangkas, which despite being less colorful is still quite similar as that found on the present lot.

Estim. 400 - 600 GBP

Roman Bronze Silenus Rider Figurine. 1st-3rd century A.D. Modelled in the round as a figure of a nude male with legs spread as if bestriding a horse; the bald head tilted an turned towards the right shoulder, with pointed ears, fleshy features and a full beard; a textile covering draped around the right thigh and lower body gathered in the left hand; the legs spread and feet dangling, with later holes for attachment pegs; the right arm extended perpendicular to the body and the hand bent round; the base of the spine with vestigial tail and the cloth draped as if on a horse's rump; mounted on a custom-made stand. Cf. Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 140, for type. 200 grams, 98 mm (362 grams total, 14 cm high including stand) (3 7/8 in. (5 1/2 in.)). The figure represents either Silenus himself, the aged and semi-bestial companion of Dionysus, or a Seilenos - a member of the feral group of which he was the leader. The attitude of the figure, with the right arm extended and the head tilted, suggests that there should have been an accompanying female figure to whom Silenus was paying full attention. As a devotee of Dionysus, Silenus is often shown with Bacchantes, female celebrants in the cult of wine-drinking, music and other pleasurable pursuits. London art market, 1992. [No Reserve]

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