Lot 72
AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: SORATH RAGINI, WIFE OF MEGH RAGA ‡
INDIA, PUNJAB HILLS, BILASPUR, CIRCA 1690-1700
Auction: 10 December 2025 from 14:00 GMT
Description
gouache on paper heightened in gold, within thin black margin rules, with red border, depicting a lady seated on a luxuriously-decorated throne as she feeds a pair of cranes on a striped yellow and blue carpet, a female chowrie bearer to her side, all against a brown ground, verso with two lines of takri, one line of nagari script in black ink and with numbered Mandi royal collection stamp
Dimensions
21.6cm x 16cm
Provenance
Formerly, in the Mandi royal Collection.
Christie's, Arts of India, 12 June 2018, lot 139.
The collection of a German enthusiast.
Footnote
This ragamala subject although not uncommon is not often depicted in series of ragamala paintings. Bilaspur, a small state in the Punjab Hills, is bordered on the north by Mandi and there is a Mandi link with the reverse of the painting bearing the Mandi royal library stamp. Maharaja Bhim Chand (r. 1667-1712) was a sensitive ruler coming to the Bilaspur throne as a child. Towards the end of his life, he became a sadhu. His mother, Mandi maharani, was a sister of the great warrior Raja Sikh Sen of Mandi (r. 1684-1727) adding weight to the connection between Bilaspur and Mandi during this time. Mughal artists influenced both the Bilaspur and Mandi ateliers in the second half of the seventeenth century establishing a further link between both kingdoms. The strong colours and the striped carpet with the cranes being fed by their mistress enthroned make this painting particularly appealing.
For further discussion and comparables, see W. G Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, Vol. I, pp. 224 and 234, no. 18 (i) and Vol. II, p. 176, no. 18 (i); L. York Leach, Mughal and other Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1995, Vol. II, p. 1043 and p. 1046, no. 11.44.; G. Glyn, R. Skelton, A.L. Dallapiccola, Ragamala Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli Collection, London, 2011, no.s 7-9; J. P. Losty, Francesca Galloway exhibition catalogue, London, 2017, cat. nos. 60-62.