Sam Fogg Ltd., London
Acquired 1999

In the upper register a blue-skinned lord personified as Krishna is entertained by a dancer accompanied by musicians while his beloved waits seated within a small pavilion.  In the lower register a confident Bhilani seductively gestures to two love-lorn and supplicating princes with downcast eyes.  Away from home and on campaign they wear katars (daggers) in their waistbands.  A huntsman metaphorically aims an arrow at a leaping deer.  

Inscribed recto at upper left in black ink nagari script “Bhilani”.  Inscribed in the reverse with two lines of black♔ ink nagari script which ch💮armingly translates to:

“With her bow-like eyebrows and the arrows of her eyes 
Bhilani easily hunts the deer-like hearts of men
those suffering the pangs of separation.” 

This superb miniature painting likely originated from a thikana of Bundelkhand and is from a series which depicts women of a different castes (jats) as an archetypal nayika (heroine) often in the presence of Krishna.  Distinctive facial types with side tendrils / disposition and stances of the figures / crisp color palette / compartmentalization with registers of simultaneous action / schematic decorative foliage / pillow-like mauve hillsides and stylized crosshatching which define zones of landscape all appear to be special features of this workshop during the 1770’s.  Given its extremely high quality༒ our present painting may well have been created by one of the unnamed masters of that workshop.  Crisply painted in greens/blues/reds and mauve with bright white architectural elements and gold embellishment.  Natural/buff borders and gray ruled lines.