AN ILLUSTRATION TO A BHAGAVATA PURANA SERIES, possibly Malwa, West-Central India, 18th century, Lord Krishna's foster parents and life in the village,opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the horizontal composition illustrating in the form of a narrative strip the early years of Lord Krishna with his foster parents, Yashoda and Nanda Baba, in their village together with the cowherds (gops and gopis), to the upper left Yashoda holding baby Krishna in her arms while conversing with Rahilee, below them the cowherds attending the cattle, in the centre the natural father of Krishna, Vasudeva, hugging Nanda Baba in the forest, the following scene to the right with Nanda bringing offerings and gifts to the evil Kansa, Krishna's uncle and Devaki's brother, in the lower right corner Nanda Baba and Vasudeva gathering in the forest to discuss about the upbringing and health of baby Krishna, each character and element in the scene marked with a black ink Devanagari caption, 5ll. of black ink Devanagari script (three at the top - two at the bottom) contextualising the story illustrated in the painting, mounted, glazed and framed, 22cm x 35.5cm excluding the frame, 40cm x 53.5cm including the frame.

Provenance: Property from a Private London Collection