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拍品专文
The story of Sohni and Mahival is one of the most popular ill-fated romances from the Punjab region, relating the complicated love affair between Sohni, the heroine from the Kumhar, or potter caste, and her lover Mahival. Mahival, a merchant from Bukhara, had swiftly fallen for Sohni while passing through her village on a caravan. Mahival decides to stay in Sohni's village, making frequent stops at her family's pottery shop, describing her beauty so eloquently: that her face was like the moon, eyes like an innocent deer, and eyelashes like arrows that pierce his heart. Learning of their forbidden love, Sohni’s family arranged her to marry another potter from their village; yet, in defiance of her marriage, every night, Sohni would visit Mahival, using one of her pots to stay afloat as she traveled across the river to where he grazed his buffalo. Skeptical of her whereabouts every night, Sohni’s sister-in-law followed her to the river on one occasion and replaced her pot with one unfired. When Sohni next went to see Mahival, the jar dissolved midstream. Mahival jumps in to save her as she was drowning in the water, and tragically, they drown together.
The tale of Sohni and Mahival was so poignant, it spread to become one of the most beloved painting subjects in the Mughal provinces. Several examples can be compared to the present lot, including a painting in the style of Faqirullah Khan, from Lucknow or Farrukhabad dated to circa 1780, in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (acc. no. M.72.2.1), a Delhi-school composition sold at Christie’s New York, 9 October 2014, lot 84, and most recently a similarly-dated rendition from Lucknow sold at Sotheby’s London, 30 March 2022, lot 56. Further examples and an extensive analysis of the subject are provided by Stephen Markel in "Drowning in Love’s Passion: Illustrations of the Romance of Sohni and Mahinwal," in A Pot-Pourri of Indian Art, P. Pal (editor), Mumbai, 1988, pp. 99-114. The present painting includes an unusual feature in that the unnamed hermit who is almost always depicted in the lower left corner is accompanied by a young man tending to his hookah.
The tale of Sohni and Mahival was so poignant, it spread to become one of the most beloved painting subjects in the Mughal provinces. Several examples can be compared to the present lot, including a painting in the style of Faqirullah Khan, from Lucknow or Farrukhabad dated to circa 1780, in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (acc. no. M.72.2.1), a Delhi-school composition sold at Christie’s New York, 9 October 2014, lot 84, and most recently a similarly-dated rendition from Lucknow sold at Sotheby’s London, 30 March 2022, lot 56. Further examples and an extensive analysis of the subject are provided by Stephen Markel in "Drowning in Love’s Passion: Illustrations of the Romance of Sohni and Mahinwal," in A Pot-Pourri of Indian Art, P. Pal (editor), Mumbai, 1988, pp. 99-114. The present painting includes an unusual feature in that the unnamed hermit who is almost always depicted in the lower left corner is accompanied by a young man tending to his hookah.