AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: THE PANCHAMA RAGINI
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE GERMAN COLLECTION
Bundi School, Rajasthan, North-Western India, late 17th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical painting portraying the typical composition of the Panchama Ragini, the first wife of the Shri Raga, a musical mode to be performed after sunset in the early winter evenings, depicting a courtly couple being entertained by female musicians playing in the foreground, the male character smelling a flower blossom, behind him a female attendant whisking a white cloth around the couple to refresh them, another attendant bringing a tray of drinks and essence bottles, to the left the Hindu god of Love, Kama, seated on a lush verdant tree, preparing his bow and using a lotus flower as an arrow, a symbolism referring to the love of the couple, in the upper left corner a depiction of the Hindu god Brahma holding the sacred Sanskrit texts of the Vedas, 1ll. of black ink Devanagari script within an ochre yellow rectangular cartouche at the top, the scene set within black and yellow rules and bright red borders, two Indian numerals in black ink to the lower-left and right corners 35 and 95 (?), mounted, glazed and framed, 31.5cm x 27cm including the frame.