Lovers in the Mirror, Orissa, 18th century, opaque watercolour on cotton, the figures depicted in an embrace, 20 x 15cm. Two lovers are entwined together in a passionate embrace, their limbs and serpentine bodies fused together into a fiery circle...

Lovers in the Mirror, Orissa, 18th century, opaque watercolour on cotton, the figures depicted in an embrace, 20 x 15cm. Two lovers are entwined together in a passionate embrace, their limbs and serpentine bodies fused together into a fiery circle. This state is suggested by the warmth of colour; their orange and yellow bodies against a red background. Both figures wear jewelled wristbands, waistbands, earrings and armlets over their naked bodies. The image appears to be a mirror in which are reflected the two lovers in their embrace. This and four other similar images form a rare group of Orissan paintings from the 18th century; the majority of examples from Orissa have been attributed to the 19th century. Painting in Orissa retained its essential individuality throughout the Mughal period, remaining true to its mediaeval origins. Totally without any sense of shading and with certain distortions of the human figure, this linear style was mostly employed to illustrate palm leaf manuscripts (pothis), normally of the texts concerned with Krishna, such as the Bhagavata Purana and the Gita Govinda, although texts on erotices were also illustrated in this way. Alongside manuscript illustration was painting on cloth or wooden boards (patas), concerned mostly with the sacred geography of the great Jagannatha shrine at Puri and the deities enshrined therein. The same linear style as in the manuscripts was here used to outline pure blocks of brilliant primary colours. That same technique has been used here in a purely secular context, perhaps part of a series related to an erotic text. For two similar paintings, see Christie's, Arts and Textiles of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 22nd April 2016, lot 606. Four other folios from this series were published in Indian Miniature Paintings From The Arturo Schwarz and Other Private Collections, Prahlad Bubbar Gallery, 2007.