NURPUR OR BILASPUR, CIRCA 1700

Details

ACHANDA RAGA
Nurpur or Bilaspur, circa 1700
From a Ragamala, gouache heightened with gold on paper, shown as two lovers seated in a pavilion on a yellow rug against a mauve cushion, orange sky and three green cypresses, yellow border, blue and red margins, yellow leaf with black takri title above, further takri inscriptions on reverse, slightly rubbed, edges scuffed and reinforced, mounted
Folio 8 x 8in. (20.4 x 20.4cm.); miniature 7 x 6¾in. (17.8 x 17.2cm.)

Provenance

S.N. Kalia, April 1962

Literature

W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, Nurpur, no.7(i), the illustration incorrectly swapped with that of no.7(ii).
W.G. Archer, Visions of Courtly India, Washington D.C., 1976, no.70, pp.132-3.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The inscription on the reverse in takri translates: On the bed of pleasure Gaur raga is asleep, his feet are being caressed by a lotus-facedd girl, the third son of Sri Raga by name Gaur.

This is one of a series of Ragamala paintings which Archer at first attributed possibly to Bilaspur. One of them however depicts the raga clearly with the face of Raja Man Dhata (r.1661-1700) of Nurpur, thus enabling the series to be re-attributed there.

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