LORD RAMA PRAYING TO A COMPOSITE SHAIVITE MYTHICAL CREATURE
Pahari Hills school, Northern India, first half 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the horizontal composition depicting Lord Rama standing to the left with his hands held in prayer, the Hindu god identified by the quiver and arrow on the floor next to him, in front of Rama a composite mythical creature in the form of a sphinx with the Hindu god Shiva's face, the body made of different deities, like Brahma, Vishnu and Durga Mahisasuramardini, mixed with a variety of real and mythical animals, like elephants, lions, bulls and dragons, the mythical creature bathing in holy water poured from the sky by two winged angels, the composition set within yellow and white rules and bright red borders, the recto plain except for an Arab numeral '211', mounted on a white cardboard frame, 16.3cm x 25cm excluding the mount.