Details
- Title : BRAHMANI, MAHESHVARI AND VAISHNAVI
- Year : c. 1600
- Classification : Painting
- Medium : Distemper on cloth
- Dimension : 23 x 44 1/3 in. (58.5 x 112.5 cm.)
- Accession No : GNM_LOT 21_PUN_03
- Country/ Geo-location : Nepal
- Collection : PUNDOLE’S
- Status : LIVE AUCTION The Fine Arts Sale (M0007) (as per NOV 2021)
- ESTIMATED : Est. ₹1,000,000 - ₹1,500,000
- SOLD : ₹2,500,000
- NOTE : The three mother goddesses, each with eight arms, stand astride their vahana of geese, nandi and peacocks. They are placed within shrines divided by pillars that each have a white lion at the base and a four-armed form of Bhairava at the top. A kirtimukha torana forms each of the arches above the goddesses, interspersed with roundels showing seated figures against the flower-filled background above. This fragmentary paubha, the oldest Hindu scroll in the Collection, would have extended, probably in a continuous horizontal format, to depict the complete group of eight mother goddesses, the Astamatrik. The scrollwork and the style of the deities within the miniature roundels can be compared with a Mahakala dated 1577, see Pratapaditya Pal, The Arts of Nepal: Part II, Painting, Leiden 1978, pl. 103. The group of eight mother goddesses was especially worshipped by women to protect their families and increase their fertility. The three goddesses shown here are the most important of the eight, as they are the consorts of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu respectively. Each is shown standing on the vahana associated with their consorts, and each holds the attributes their gods are usually depicted with. The constant creative ingenuity that these artists demonstrated in both the compositions and the interpretations is a point that Dr. Pal reiterates in his article on The Jucker Collection, referring to the current work as a good example of this. He talks about the the Newar artists' 'predilection for constant inventiveness and diversity' as seen in the Hindu paintings in the Collection, of which this is one. 'A fragmentary scroll depicting three Mother Goddesses in their typically Newar forms reflects the style that was popular in Bhaktapur around 1600.' (Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, 'The Jucker Collection: A Personal Appreciation', Sotheby's The Jucker Collection of Himalayan Paintings, New York, 2006, p. 9.)
- DESCRIPTION : THE JUCKER COLLECTION The Jucker Collection, put together lovingly over a period of forty-two years by Mrs. Angela Jucker-Grunauer and Dr. Ernst 'Mischa' Jucker was the 'most formidable collection of paintings from the Himalayas that was unmatched for its breadth as well as depth' before it was sold in New York in 2006. As Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, who has interacted closely with the Juckers and their Collection for several years says, 'What is even more admirable is that when the Juckers began collecting, they had no paradigm to follow, especially for Newar paintings. Yet the instant bond that formed between this professional chemist and the religious paintings of Nepal and Tibet, clearly impinges on the mystical.' (Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, 'The Jucker Collection: A Personal Appreciation', Sotheby's The Jucker Collection of Himalayan Paintings, New York, 2006, p. 6.) The Swiss couple, who live in Ettingen outside Basel, began collecting Indian folk art and paintings on cloth, more commonly referred to as thankhas in Tibet and paubhas in Nepal, in the early 1960s. A research-chemist, who worked for a large pharmaceutical company, Dr. Jucker visited Orissa for a Science Conference in 1959 where he had the privilege of being seated near the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, at a dinner banquet. The two exchanged notes on the drug industry and India's religion and cultures. Fascinated with what he had heard, Dr. Jucker visited a few antique stores 'hoping to find objects linked with the Indian tribal and rural people. During one of these strolls, I came across a small, strange painting on cloth and acquired it just because I immediately liked it. This was our first Tibetan thangka / mandala and the beginning of our collection. (Dr. Ernst Jucker, 'Introduction by Mrs. Angela Jucker-Grunauer and Dr. Ernst 'Mischa' Jucker', Sotheby's The Jucker Collection of Himalayan Paintings, New York, 2006, p. 14.) Dr. Pal concurs: 'One would have expected Mischa to be seduced by the sensual charm of the rich tradition of Orissan sculpture that he saw all around him in that great temple city. Instead, while searching for Indian folk and tribal art, his eyes suddenly fell on a thanka and he was hooked for the rest of his life.' (Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, 'The Jucker Collection: A Personal Appreciation', Sotheby's The Jucker Collection of Himalayan Paintings, New York, 2006, p. 6.) The Collection consisted of paintings on cloth done in both Nepal and Tibet. The five paintings being offered for sale in this catalogue belong to the group from Nepal. They represent deities and stories from the Buddhist, Bardo and Hindu traditions, and all would have served a religious function. The paintings in the Collection span eight hundred years of artistic creativity from 1200 to 2000. 'This chronological span covers almost the entire period of the history of the thankas and paubhas in the two regions. Most stylistic expressions from both cultures are well represented by distinct, if not unique, examples.' (Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, 'The Jucker Collection: A Personal Appreciation', Sotheby's The Jucker Collection of Himalayan Paintings, New York, 2006, p. 7.) The works from Nepal in the Collection are of 'remarkable significance' to Newari art. 'Among the oldest surviving communities in the Kathmandu Valley, the Newar artists have been primarily responsible for not only creating the country's visual culture, but have also profoundly influenced the Tibetans, at least since the seventh century, when Buddhism was officially introduced to the rest of the world.' (ibid) Both Dr. and Mrs. Jucker visited India, Nepal and Sikkim several times over the next few decades, both for professional and personal reasons. Dr. Jucker also published two articles on Indian folk bronzes and Nepalese and Tibetan thankas in the Illustrated Weekly on Mrs. Indira Gandhi's request. This exposure in their friend Khushwant Singh's periodical made the collecting process easier, as people began to know of them and 'each time one of us, Angela or myself came to India, folk-bronzes and thankas were waiting for us, and we had only to make our choice.' (Dr. Ernst Jucker, 'Introduction by Mrs. Angela Jucker-Grunauer and Dr. Ernst 'Mischa' Jucker', Sotheby's The Jucker Collection of Himalayan Paintings, New York, 2006, p. 15.) The Juckers continued collecting for several years, and enjoyed living with their collection for just over forty. They interacted with several academics and collectors in those years, most notably Dr. Pratapaditya Pal who wrote on the Collection and Hugo Kreijger who wrote a book on the works in the Collection (Kathmandu Valley Painting, The Jucker Collection) so as to allow a wider group of collectors to 'see pictures of some outstanding specimens in what became known as "The Jucker Collection".' (ibid)
- PROVENANCE : Property Formerly in the Collection of Ernst and Angela Jucker //Hugo E. Kreijger, Kathmandu Valley Painting, The Jucker Collection, Boston, 1999, p. 50, no. 12.
- REGISTERED ANTIQUITY : NON-EXPORTABLE ITEM (Please refer to the Terms and Conditions of Sale at the back of the catalogue.)