Opaque watercolor on paper.
Abhisarika refers to a nayika, or heroine, who braves the night to meet her lover. In this painting, the nayika moves across a vast golden field under a darkened sky, illuminated only by flashes of lightning. In Sanskrit poetry, lightning is often personified as the wife of the clouds, and here, it may symbolically guide the heroine on her journey. As she advances, she cautiously navigates the serpents that coil around her feet, adding a sense of urgency and peril to her pursuit of love. Similar compositions can be found in the British Museum, accession no. 1948,1009,0.138; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession no. M.71.49.6; and Christie’s London on June 12, 2018, lot 24, sold for GBP 10,000.
古勒畫派是帕哈里細密畫中的一支地區畫派，以印度東部帕哈里山丘的小型公國古勒命名。十八至十九世紀，古勒匯聚了一批極具天賦的藝術家，服務于上層王公。古勒臣服於莫臥兒帝國，雙方常以繪畫交流互贈，因此古勒繪畫受莫臥兒影響頗深。《密會圖》是這一時期細密畫中的特定題材，描繪女子深夜剋服萬難私會情郎，纏繞的靈蛇象徵艱難險阻。同類畫作參見大英博物館（藏品編號1948,1009,0.138）；洛杉磯郡立博物舘（藏品編號M.71.49.6）；以及倫敦佳士得2018年6月12日專場24號。