Lot 56

AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: MALSRI RAGINI ‡
INDIA, HYDERABAD, CIRCA 1770





Auction: 10 December 2025 from 14:00 GMT
Description
gouache on paper heightened in gold, red border inscribed in nagari script, yellow and green floral outer border, depicting two bejewelled seated ladies in deep conversation with an attendant holding a peacock-feathered chowrie to the right, trees and formal gardens behind and further palace buildings in the background, mounted, glazed and framed
Dimensions
34.5cm x 26.5cm
Provenance
Formerly, Soustiel collection; Paris auction, 6th December 1999; Art Curial, 25 March 2005.
The collection of a German enthusiast.
Footnote
The two ladies on the terrace are seen in deep conversation, one likely to be comforting the other who is patiently waiting for her lover. An empty pavilion in the upper left background signifies that the male lover is not present.
For three ragamala paintings from the same series with the same borders, see J. Bautze, Lotosmond und Löwenritt, Indische Miniaturmalerei, Stuttgart, 1991, plate nos. 40-42.




