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Lot Essay
Vangala Ragini of Bhairav Raga was meant to be sung in the morning during the autumn season, as suggested by the hot, red background. The text at the top can be translated: 'His body is decorated with a beautiful string of grass. He wears the skin of a young doe. He is a vigorous youth. His body shines with the brilliance of gold. He sings the sacred hymn, Vangala'. Clearly the painter has used artistic license as a female ascetic is depicted here.
This celebrated series is known as the dispersed 'Berlin' ragamala as four other pages are in Berlin, one of which bears a colophon with a date of Samvat 1662 (1605–06 AD) (Ernst and Rose Leonore Waldschmidt, Miniatures of Musical Inspiration, II, Berlin, 1975, pp. 427-431). Four other pages are in the Kronos Collection (Terence McInerney with Steven M. Kossak and Navina Najat Haidar, Divine Pleasures, Painting from India's Rajput Courts, The Kronos Collections, New York, exhibition catalogue, 2013, cat.7-10, pp.64-70) and another is in the Metropolitan Museum collection, New York (inv.1981.464.1)
In his discussion of the set, McInerney notes that 'once the rajas of India decided to become art patrons, Rajput court painting was born. [..] The diffusion of sophisticated Mughal court painting to [the] Rajput courts did not happen overnight' and it took Akbar's long reign (the emperor died in 1605) for the so-called Popular Mughal, or Sub-Imperial Mughal style to develop. It marries the earlier 'Early Rajput style', a religious art, with the emerging and very influential Mughal court painting, a courtly art. The flat and intense red background of this painting seems to be a Rajput specificity which also appears on Dakshina Gujari ragini from the series (McInerney, op.cit., cat.7, p.64).
This set is probably amongst the earliest form of Rajput court painting (McInerney, op.cit., p.66). It has tentatively been attributed to Jodhpur, Marwar (C. Glynn, R. Skelton, A. L. Dallapiccola, Ragamala, Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli Collection, London, 2011, cat. 13, pp. 64-65) and to Bikaner (Metropolitan Museum of Art; inv. 1987.417.2). Glynn compares the female figure and details of the floral decoration and the brick walls with Jodhpur paintings of the early 17th century (Rosemary Crill, Marwar Painting, a History of the Jodhpur Style, Marg, Mumbai, 1999, fig.1, fig.9 and 10, pp.24-25). However McInerney leaves open the geographic attribution.
This celebrated series is known as the dispersed 'Berlin' ragamala as four other pages are in Berlin, one of which bears a colophon with a date of Samvat 1662 (1605–06 AD) (Ernst and Rose Leonore Waldschmidt, Miniatures of Musical Inspiration, II, Berlin, 1975, pp. 427-431). Four other pages are in the Kronos Collection (Terence McInerney with Steven M. Kossak and Navina Najat Haidar, Divine Pleasures, Painting from India's Rajput Courts, The Kronos Collections, New York, exhibition catalogue, 2013, cat.7-10, pp.64-70) and another is in the Metropolitan Museum collection, New York (inv.1981.464.1)
In his discussion of the set, McInerney notes that 'once the rajas of India decided to become art patrons, Rajput court painting was born. [..] The diffusion of sophisticated Mughal court painting to [the] Rajput courts did not happen overnight' and it took Akbar's long reign (the emperor died in 1605) for the so-called Popular Mughal, or Sub-Imperial Mughal style to develop. It marries the earlier 'Early Rajput style', a religious art, with the emerging and very influential Mughal court painting, a courtly art. The flat and intense red background of this painting seems to be a Rajput specificity which also appears on Dakshina Gujari ragini from the series (McInerney, op.cit., cat.7, p.64).
This set is probably amongst the earliest form of Rajput court painting (McInerney, op.cit., p.66). It has tentatively been attributed to Jodhpur, Marwar (C. Glynn, R. Skelton, A. L. Dallapiccola, Ragamala, Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli Collection, London, 2011, cat. 13, pp. 64-65) and to Bikaner (Metropolitan Museum of Art; inv. 1987.417.2). Glynn compares the female figure and details of the floral decoration and the brick walls with Jodhpur paintings of the early 17th century (Rosemary Crill, Marwar Painting, a History of the Jodhpur Style, Marg, Mumbai, 1999, fig.1, fig.9 and 10, pp.24-25). However McInerney leaves open the geographic attribution.