BHAIRAVA RAGA: LORD KRISHNA ENTHRONED AND ADORED, AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES, DECCAN, AURANGABAD, OR RAJASTHAN, MEWAR, CIRCA 1650

Opaque watercolour and gold on paper

Zebrowski 1983, p. 49, no. 33
Walker 1997, p. 147, fig. 142

In good condition, laid down on paper, loss and minor tear to upper left hand edge, minor wear to the four edges, light flaking, colour vibrant and mostly intact, as viewed.
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This is a rich and vibrant miniature from an important and widely debated Ragamala series. It has been attributed to Rajasthan or the Northern Deccan, and different scholars over the years have had different opinions. In 1973 Ebeling summarised: "This very colourful and exquisitely drawn set belonged once to the Thakur of Ghanerao, on the border between Mewar and Marwar. Karl Khandalava believes that it was painted there, too, and shows stylistic influences from both regions as well as from Bikaner. K. Sangram Singh assigns the set to Aurangabad, the Bharat Kala Bhavan ascribes it to the Bikaner school." (Ebeling 1973, p.177, where he attributes them to South Rajasthan). Others have suggested Nagaur and again Bikaner "Although ascribed to both Mewar and Ghanerao, a provenance closer to Bikaner, perhaps Nagaur, seems more likely." (Welch and Beach 1965, no.18, pp.20, 119). In 1972 Doshi published an illustrated Rasamanjari, in a coarser version of the same style, which contained a colophon stating that it was painted at Aurangabad in 1650 for a Mewar thakur (see Doshi 1972, p.19-28). In addition, a group of small paintings of women (unpublished), from the same school, were discovered behind the small glass panels of a shish mahal at Ghanerao, further supporting the theory of migration and cross-polination between Rajasthan and the Deccan. More recently, Losty has reverted to the theory that this Ragamala series was produced in Mewar by artists under Deccani influence. Losty draws parallels with the fourth and fifth books of Maharana Jagat Singh of Mewar's Ramayana of 1649-53 produced by Deccani artists employed at the Mewar court to assist in the painting of over four hundred illustrations of the epic (see Losty 2010, p.40).

A painting from the same Ragamala series as the present illustration is in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (see Cummins 2006, pl. 46). Kanada Ragini, like the present work, possesses the distinctive facial features and palette of pink, mauve, blue and yellow, along with an almost identical carpet decorated with a fleshy arabesque. This carpet has been identified by Daniel Walker as belonging to the 'Kyoto group type' that were produced in the Deccan. They are characterised by a red ground with a meandering vine issuing composite palmettes and saz. A carpet in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry K.T., at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, displays a very similar design and has been attributed to the Deccan, circa 1650 (Walker 1997, fig.140).

Another illustration from this Ragamala series depicting Lalit Raga is in the Aga Khan Museum Collection (formerly in the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection, Geneva) and is published in Canby 1998, no.127, pp.168-9; Welch and Beach 1965; and Zebrowski 1983, p.48, no.32. Further related examples are published in Enbohm 1985, no.41, pp.96-97; Ebeling 1973, p.177; Archer and Czuma 1975, no.55); others were sold in these rooms 11 December 1973, lot 56, and in our New York rooms, 2 June 1992, lot 319.