ANOTHER PROPERTY

An illustration from the Megha Raga: Krishna playing a vina and dancing with gopis

INDIA, BUNDELKHAND, CIRCA 1750

Details

An illustration from the Megha Raga: Krishna playing a vina and dancing with gopis
India, Bundelkhand, circa 1750
The blue-skinned deity dancing at center and flanked by female musicians, a lotus-filled pond in the foreground and tall trees to the right, against a green background with a riotous blue sky filled with golden lightning above
Opaque pigments and gold on wasli
12½ x 9¼ in. (31.7 x 23.4 cm.), folio

Provenance

Dr. W.B. Manley Collection, Guildford, Surrey, acquired in the 1960s
Sotheby's London, 14 July 1971, lot 174
Maggs Brothers, London, acquired in the mid 1970s
Private Collection, Hertfordshire, acquired in the late 1970s to present

Lot Essay

Megha raga is the song of the rainy season. The inscription on the verso reads "31 Megh malar," the name of the ragini which is the thirty-first in the Ragamala tradition of northern India. Leaves from this Ragamala appeared on the market in 1950s, some of which were acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Other leaves are in the Binney Collection in San Diego.

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