A painting from a dispersed Ragamala series: Kuntala Raga

INDIA, CHAMBA, CIRCA 1690

Details

A painting from a dispersed Ragamala series: Kuntala Raga
India, Chamba, circa 1690
Showing an elegantly clothed couple standing before a bird coop, the husband feeding the birds and his wife with her hand on his shoulder, with a pair of birds and another of doves in the foreground, a warm brown background with a high horizon, all surrounded by red borders and with inscriptions and collector's stamp on verso
Opaque pigments and gold on paper
7½ x 4 5/8 in. (19 x 11.6 cm.), image
8½ x 6 1/8 in. (21.5 x 15.6 cm.), folio

Provenance

Royal Mandi Collection, inv. no. 2463, by 1841
Private Collection, London, acquired at Sotheby's London, 24 May 2007, lot 4

Lot Essay

With a single simple gesture of the wife's hand on her husband's shoulder and their unified gaze towards a common point (in this case, the bird coop), the artist has conveyed an easy intimacy between the couple not usually depicted in Indian painting. The coupled birds in the foreground reinforce their relationship, and the detail to which their clothing and facial features are described elevate this painting's sense of refinement. The inscriptions on the verso, in three difference scripts, all translate as "Raga Kuntala son of Dipaka." As with lots 5 and 6, this work has been reattributed to the court of Chamba, circa 1690; see lot 5 for further discussion.

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