Opaque pigment on paper heightened with gold
Image 9 3/8 x 6 ½ in. (23.8 x 16.5 cm.); folio 11 1/8 x 7 7/8 in. (28 x 20 cm.)
Kangra or Mandi, India
c. 1810 – 1820
Provenance:
Private Collection, Virginia since 2004
The great goddess seated on a golden throne encrusted with jewels, holds a bow, conch, disc and trident in her four hands. The trimutri of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva stand before her in adoration, whilst her tiger lies in attendance at her feet.
The representation of Devi in the aspect of Durga is shown holding the weapons of her attending gods. In this aspect she serves as the dispeller of all miseries of the mind and body, invoked through the following prayer:
O thou of four hands
O thou lauded by the four-faced Brahma, supreme sovereign!
give the form, give the victory, give the fame
kill the enemies
Compare the throne platform and treatment of the crowns with a very similar composition of the marriage of Shiva and Parvati from the Jordan Barry Collection (see Sotheby's, New York, 20 March 2001, lot 14).
Also compare with the treatment of Radha in the Bhagavata Purana page, 'The Hour of Cow Dust', held in the Kapoor Collection, see Pal, Painted Poems, Pasadena, 2006, no. 49. Both share the same garments, green armbands, and distinctive overall palette also found in a work dated 1808 attributed to the School of Sajnu published in Goswamy & Fischer, Pahari Masters, Zurich, 1992, no. 154.