Six illustrated palm-leaf manuscript leaves from the Ramayana Orissa, late...
Property from a distinguished European Collection
Six illustrated palm-leaf manuscript leaves from the Ramayana
Orissa, late 17th Century
Oriya script incised on to palm leaves, double-sided, 6-8 lines of text to the page, all with incised illustrations with some use of colour, central piercing for thread tie, unbound, between perspex sheets
4.3 x 39 cm. and slightly smaller(6)
Provenance
Formerly with M. Desai (February 1993).
Distinguished European collection.
The earliest known Orissan palm leaf manuscript dates to circa 1690, for which see S. C. Welch, India: Art and Culture, 1300-1900, New York 1985, pp. 62-63, no. 26, as well as a discussion of the type in general. For three examples in the British Library, see J. P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India, London 1982,pp. 137-138, nos. 115-118: a Gitagovinda, a Radhakrishnakeli, and two manuscripts of the tenth canto of the Bhagavata Purana, all late 17th or 18th Century).
Palm leaves were dried, flattened and then polished and burnished. The text and illustrations were incised into the surface with great skill and care, since the stylus had to be applied with the right amount of pressure to avoid breaking the leaf. The incisions were then often rubbed with soot or charcoal, and colour was then added.
See L. Y. Leach, Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1986, pp. 238-241, no. 96, for a double-sided illustrated leaf from a manuscript of the Ramayana, dated to the late 18th Century.
Bid on this lot
Property from a distinguished European Collection
Six illustrated palm-leaf manuscript leaves from the Ramayana
Orissa, late 17th Century
Oriya script incised on to palm leaves, double-sided, 6-8 lines of text to the page, all with incised illustrations with some use of colour, central piercing for thread tie, unbound, between perspex sheets
4.3 x 39 cm. and slightly smaller(6)
Provenance
Formerly with M. Desai (February 1993).
Distinguished European collection.
The earliest known Orissan palm leaf manuscript dates to circa 1690, for which see S. C. Welch, India: Art and Culture, 1300-1900, New York 1985, pp. 62-63, no. 26, as well as a discussion of the type in general. For three examples in the British Library, see J. P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India, London 1982,pp. 137-138, nos. 115-118: a Gitagovinda, a Radhakrishnakeli, and two manuscripts of the tenth canto of the Bhagavata Purana, all late 17th or 18th Century).
Palm leaves were dried, flattened and then polished and burnished. The text and illustrations were incised into the surface with great skill and care, since the stylus had to be applied with the right amount of pressure to avoid breaking the leaf. The incisions were then often rubbed with soot or charcoal, and colour was then added.
See L. Y. Leach, Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1986, pp. 238-241, no. 96, for a double-sided illustrated leaf from a manuscript of the Ramayana, dated to the late 18th Century.
