Lot 2: ALLAH BUX

ALLAH BUX 1895 - 1978 UNTITLED (SOHNI) Signed and dated 'allah bux/ 1959' lower right Oil on canvas 83.5 by 48.5 cm. (32 7/8 by 19 1/8 in.)

This is a portrait of Sohni, from the tragic Mughal love story. Sohni was the daughter of a potter who fell in love with Izzat Baig "Mahiwal". Every night Sohni would swim across the river to meet her lover in secret. Sohni would use the eartherware pitcher depicted in the painting to help her swim. Her husband's family discovered about her rendezvous and one night her sister-in-law arranged for her baked earthenware pitcher to be replaced with an unbaked one causing Sohni to drown, her lover Mahiwal tried to save her but also drowned.