Chinese/Indian reverse Painting: Kalki & Foe

Frame: 16 1/2" x 22 1/4"
Painting: 13 3/4" x 19 1/2"

Chinese Reverse Glass Paintings in India
(Source: Granoff, Phyllis. Reverse Glass Paintings from Gujarat in a Private Canadian Collection: Documents of British India.; Artibus Asiae, 1978) Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reverse glass painting produced primarily in the Canton region of China were exported to Europe and North America. The paintings exported by China as well as those executed in Europe are generally are characterized by their bold coloring, hastily executed brush strokes, lack of perspective, anonymity of authorship, and a reduction of a scene to only its primary details. One advantage of making paintings on glass was that a wood backing could be used to protect the paint so artists could sell the pieces without waiting for the paint to dry. This led to faster turnaround and greater profits for Chinese artists. By the late 18th and early 19th century, Indians began noticing the increasing demand for portraits done by artists in Canton for the British aristocracy. Indian nobles then started having their engraved portraits sent to China in order to receive their own painted portraits transposed onto glass.

As the British extended their empire to India, the reverse glass paintings produced in China found a new market in wealthy Indians who sought to emulate British colonial officers. It is impossible to know if these paintings were produced for local Indian rulers or for the British--both in India and at home.

In the 1970s, a collection of eight of these reverse glass paintings surfaced from a private Canadian collection. One of the pieces bears a striking resemblance to the piece in our auction. The painting is of Kalki, the final avatar of Vishnu, disemboweling his foe. Kalkis representation (part man and part horse) is in line with the iconographical rules set forth in Indian sacred texts, however, he is missing typical attributes like a conch, sword, wheel, and shield. This lot was originally mistakenly titled Narasimha and demon, as Narasimha (another incarnation of Vishnu) is more commonly associated with the pose depicted here. According to the Puranas (a Hindu holy text), there is no specific way in which Kalki defeats his enemies. Kalki is described in the Puranas as the avatar who rejuvenates existence by ending the darkest and destructive period to remove adharma and ushering in the Satya Yuga, while riding a white horse with a fiery sword. The description and details of Kalki are different among various Puranas. Kalki is also found in Buddhist texts: For example the Kalachakra-Tantra of Tibetan Buddhism.

Good condition overall