An illustration from a Baramasa series: The month of Savana, India, Rajasthan, Kota, circa 1760

The foreground of the painting has a group of women carrying an idol of the goddess Parvati as part of the celebrations for Teej. The festival of Teej is dedicated to Parvati and her union with Shiva. It is celebrated by women in North India (including Rajasthan) to also welcome the monsoon season, in the month of Savana, with music and dancing. Krishna is depicted twice in the painting, firstly seated on a terrace with Radha watching a young woman on a swing attached to a tree, and secondly at upper right, in a loving embrace with Radha.

The present painting belongs to a series of illustrations depicting the text of the Baramasa (songs of the seasons, or twelve months) written by the sixteenth century poet, Keshavdas. The month of Savana in the Hindu calendar begins in late July and ends in late August, coinciding with the monsoon season in North India. A slightly earlier folio with a comparable illustration of the month of Savana, from Bundi in Rajasthan, dated to circa 1680-1700, is in the British Museum, London (Ahluwalia, 2008, no.35, p.69). Another folio from a Baramasa series depicting Ashadha, the month prior to Savana, attributed to Bundi or Kota and dated to the mid-eighteenth century, formerly in the Estate of Dr. Claus Virch, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16 March 2016, lot 812.