The delicate quality and lifelike animism of these clay figures are attributed to the artist Jadunath Pal. With significant impact across India and beyond, sculptural work by Pal has “acquired great celebrity, and they have repeatedly gained medals and certificates in most of the International Exhibitions held since 1851" (T.N. Mukharji, Art Manufactures of India: Specially Compiled for the Glasgow International Exhibition, Calcutta, 1888).

This present lot is an excellent representation of the fineness and impressive realism of Jadunath Pal’s sculptures that have earned him such accolades. Each figure is sculpted with anatomical precision, and the earth is brought to life with detailed expression, from furrowed eyebrows to articulated fingers. Further, they are adorned with garments and accessories made from real textiles and materials, woven and beaded on a smaller scale. The largest figure of this lot, an elderly man with a grumpy countenance, even retains an original patch of hair. Diverse in pose and scale, each sculpture is shown doing chores and representing the everyday routines of a Bengalese character, modelled in raw clay from life.

The work of Pal belongs to the more capacious sculptural tradition of Krishnanagar, a province of Bengal known for clay modelling. It was in the mid-18^th century when the Maharaja of the region established pottery studios to manufacture religious idols. While at first limited to depictions of the spiritual and divine, the Hindu practice of Barwari Puja (community worship) led to a great number of clientele for clay modelling ­– eventually, human counterparts and entire scenes were captured in clay.

In the late 19^th century, the clay work of Krishnanagar and perhaps the most famous artist of this discipline, Jadunath, became renowned in the west. Many of these figures were made and sold to English soldiers at the time. With a burgeoning taste for ocular realism, there soon was an increased demand for miniature facsimiles of people, plants and animals, and the human replicas gained renown on their own.

Pal was a lineage trained sculptor without high status, who depicted the quotidian lives of everyday people. However, his impeccable skill launched him into Calcutta’s elite art world, with wealthy patrons commissioning him for projects and his work being exhibited at a multitude of fine arts exhibitions. Even though he never received formal artistic education, he himself served as an instructor at the Calcutta art school. He defied and yet helped define western academic art styles in the country. Looking at this lot and his other statuettes, indeed, Pal had “no equal in India in this kind of work” (T.N. Mukharji, Art Manufactures of India: Specially Compiled for the Glasgow International Exhibition, Calcutta, 1888).