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SHIVA TANDAVA
GULER, CIRCA 1780
Gouache on paper heightened with gold
Image: 9.5 x 6.75 in (24.5 x 17.5 cm)
Folio: 10.75 x 8 in (27.8 x 20.4 cm)
Rs 20,00,000 ‒ 30,00,000
$ 29,855 - 44,780
NON‒EXPORTABLE
REGISTERED ANTIQUITY
PROVENANCE
Property from a Distinguished Family Collection
Shiva performing theTandava– thedance of destruction and creation,
is one of the most powerful iconographies in the classical arts. The
present lot portrays Shiva clad in a tiger skin, his hair pulled to one
side, suggesting the power of the cosmic dance. He is surrounded by
his family on musical instruments, without which the dance would be
incomplete. Parvati and Ganesha play stringed instruments on either
side of him. In the foreground are Suka with a tambourine, Daksa with
a hand drum, Bhringi with a flute and Kartikeya with the one-stringed
ektara
. The multi‒peaked, white mountains in the background were
used by Pahari painters to depict Mount Kailasa, which is the abode
of Shiva. With its depiction of music, dance, mythology, and nature,
this painting is at once, dynamic and soothing.