'The Lovelorn Heroine, from a Sat Sai of Bihari' Canvas Cloth Print, c.1785

Provenance

The heroine sits against a tree in full flower, her dress the colour of its blossoms, while other girls pass by in conversation — indifferent or unaware. Her lover is absent. No bees come to the tree. The poem this image illustrates comes from the Sat Sai, a 17th-century collection of dohas by the poet Bihari, written for Raja Jai Singh I of Amber. The Sat Sai turns on the beauty of women and the states of longing, separation, and waiting — its language dense, its images built from natural analogies.

Pahari artists of the late 18th century found this material particularly suited to their visual language. The correspondence between inner state and outer world — woman and blossom, absence and stillness — was something they rendered with a precision that goes beyond illustration into its own form of reading.

Disclaimer:

• The frames shown are for display purposes only and are not included with the artwork.
• As these are made-to-order designer pieces, expect minor colour variations from the displayed artwork.