Lot 60
THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: MALKOS RAGINI, KHAMBHAVATI RAGINI AND MALKOS RAGA ‡
INDIA, RAJASTHAN, JAIPUR, CIRCA 1820
Auction: 10 December 2025 from 14:00 GMT
Description
gouache on paper heightened in gold, purple and blue borders, panels of six lines in nagari script in black ink at the top of each illustration, mounted, glazed and framed, depicting:
Malkos ragini: a mistress seated on a palace terrace presenting lotus blossoms to a female companion, two female attendants standing to the right waving a cauri and a morchal
Khambhavati ragini: a princess kneeling in worship before the Lord Brahma on a palace terrace, a lake in the background
Malkos raga: a prince and his mistress listening to musicians on a palace terrace, two female attendants waving cauris to the right
Dimensions
each 22.3cm x 13.7cm
Provenance
Hampel Auktionshaus, 1st July 2011, lot 1240; Lempertz, Asiatische Kunst, 8 June 2013.
The collection of a German enthusiast.
Footnote
Indian painting flourished at Jaipur during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh (r. 1779-1803), a great patron of the arts that included music and painting. This tradition continued into the early nineteenth century and Ragamala subjects were often popular commissions illustrating 'melody modes' regarded by Indians as an essential base of music. The text written in panels above these three Jaipur ragamala
paintings is written in Braj Bhassa , a Hindi dialect of Western India. All three illustrations are from the same album and reflect the high quality of Jaipur painting at this time.
For further discussion see:
K. Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Basel, 1973.
G. Fantoni, Indian Paintings and Manuscripts, Sam Fogg Exhibition Catalogue, 199, no. 51.
C. Glynn, R. Sketon, A.L.Dallapicola, Ragamala Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli Collection, London, 2011.
Sale in these rooms , Islamic and Indian Art, London, lot 103, 11th June, 2025.