AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: TODI RAGINI ‡
INDIA, RAJASTHAN, AMBER, CIRCA 1740
£6,930
Auction: 11 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
gouache on paper heightened in gold, red border, with five lines of nagari text above on a yellow ground, a maiden is playing a vina at the side of a stream surrounded by tame gazelles, female musicians in the background showing a pavilion with palm and plantain trees against a bright orange sky
Dimensions
30.4cm x 22.4cm
Provenance
From a Spanish Private Collection, formerly in the collection of the Maharaja of Bikaner.
Footnote
This striking ragamala illustration is from a well known series attributed to Amber or nearby Jaipur, painted in the second quarter or middle of the eighteenth century. The artists from the region used the vibrant colours of flaming red, orange and yellow as a background to the green vegetation with musical instruments and garments often highlighted in gold. The panel of nagari text against a yellow background adds to the intensity of the colours and richness of the palette. The subjects are endearing as they tell the stories of individual ragas and musical modes and in this case the passion of the young maiden amongst gazelles in lush, fertile vegetation.
There is a very similar illustration from the same series, formerly in the Edwin Binney, 3rd, collection, in the San Diego Museum of Art, accession number 1990.850; another in the Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Russell Tyson, accession number 1962.147.15; another in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, formerly in the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, accession number M.71.1.42 and lastly; Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Mrs. John D. MacDonald, accession number 2001.138.54.
For three illustrations from the same series sold at Christie's, see, Arts of India, 12 June 2018, lots 18, 19, and 20. They share the same bright colours, elegance and composition as our painting.