THE NINE CELESTIAL BODIES (NAVAGRAHA) OF HINDU COSMOLOGY
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Jaipur, Rajasthan, North-Western India, ca. 1830 - 1840

Opaque pigments, pencil and ink heightened with gold on lined paper, the horizontal composition presenting a cosmological diagram with Surya, the Sun, in the central medallion, surrounded by other eight celestial bodies including the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and the Ascending and Descending Lunar Nodes, Rahu and Ketu, each planet shown in their anthropomorphised divine form on their vahana (vehicle), and accompanied by their name in black ink Devanagari script and some in Urdu as well, set within cropped blue borders on a thick black cardboard mount, 18.5cm x 23cm excluding the mount.