A PICCHVAI DEPICTING THE RASALILA, NORTH INDIA... Lot n° 18

152 by 95 cm. CATALOGUE NOTE The term picchvai or ‘background painting’ refers to how these paintings were traditionally worshipped—picchvai such as these would have been hung in a temple and placed behind a rupa or sculpture of the deity. Often picchvai retain traces of traditional ablution substances, such as milk or saffron water, used to lustrate the deity.