拍品描述:来源 Jens Peter Haeusgen, Bavaria, Germany, acquired between 1970s and 1990s, by repute. Nikolaus Haeusgen, München, Germany, by inheritance. Balarama leads a vast army into titanic battle. Yielding his ploughshare and charging forward upon his elephant alongside his cavalry, Balarama’s forces outnumber his opponents — trampled and beheaded — ten to one. Due to the lack of inscriptions, it is difficult to decidedly attribute the present illustration to a specific epic. Balarama has engaged in battle in the Rukmini Haran, the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata. However, it has been suggested that this folio belongs to a Rukmini Haran series, in which Balarama battles the armies of King Shishupala. In this epic, Krishna abducts Rukmini on her wedding day to Shishupala, while Balarama stages a military intervention to prevent the king from retrieving his bride. The present folio is a fine example of early nineteenth-century Kangra painting. The dynamic composition implies the domination of Balarama in battle; Balarama, mounted upon his elephant in a gilt howdah, controls half the field as a tight configuration of interwoven soldiers, depicted in effortless contrapposto, fill in the left section of the painting. Balarama’s elephant is exceptionally executed, with fine lines capturing the texture of its wrinkled skin and gnarled ears. The frenzied and crowded composition, juxtaposed against the softness and simplicity of the plain green background creates a powerful visual impression of the battle. The style of painting mirros those of the the turn of the century nineteenth century workshops. The elephant, with its exquisite detail and remarkably similar brocades and ornamentation, are entirely reminiscent of those in Fattu’s 1769 Bhagavata Purana series; reference an illustration from the Fattu series at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, (2008.293) to compare. The color palette and facial characteristics are reminiscent of Purkhu, though paintings from his workshop tend to feature harder lines and diagonal compositions and tend to be of larger scale. A similar battle scene from the Rukmini Haran, sharing close dimensions and stylistic consistencies, but set upon a red background, is published in The Classical Tradition in Rajput Painting; Dr. Pal attributes the published work to 1750-1775 Garhwal or Guler.