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Lot Essay
Ragamalas from Bundi and Kotah mostly derive from a late 16th century ragamala set painted by displaced Mughal artists, the Chunar ragamala of 1591 (J.P. Losty, A Prince's Eye, Imperial Mughal Paintings from a Princely Collection, Arts from the Indian Courts, Francesca Galloway, London, 2013, p.144). Losty notes that 'for two centuries, Bundi artists of ragamala sets followed the same iconography and composition of the 1591 set'. A number of related images of Gauda Malhara are known which are invariably similar, although most depict male ascetics or ascetics whose gender is unclear. Our painting depicts a female ascetic, a rare feature in this group of Bundi Gauda Malhara.
The earliest of all appears to be painted on the walls of the Bada Mahal in Bundi (Losty, op.cit., p.144). It is dated to the third quarter of the 17th century; this would suggest that our painting is amongst the first of this type painted in the Rajput state. Two other Gauda Malhara raginis, dated to the first half of the 17th century and to mid-18th century are published in Ernst and Rose Leonore Waldschmidt, Miniatures of Musical Inspiration, II, Berlin, 1975, fig.137 and fig.138, p.383-384. Another in the Madhuri Desai Collection, dated circa 1660, identified as Bangala Ragini, is published in Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray, Indian Painting, Geneva, 1978, p.142 and a fourth is in the National Museum, Delhi (catalogued as 18th century; Claus Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Basel, 1973, C.21, pp.66-67). Whilst Waldschmidt suggests that the iconography of Gauda Malhara is usually associated with heavy clouds coming up in the skys, Ebeling notes that it is generally very fluid (Ebeling, op.cit., p.86).
A closely related painting of Gauda Malhara painting was in the Francoise and Claude Bourelier Collection which sold at Artcurial, Paris, 4 November 2014, lot 253. Although catalogued as mid-18th century it was re-attributed later as circa 1660-70.
The earliest of all appears to be painted on the walls of the Bada Mahal in Bundi (Losty, op.cit., p.144). It is dated to the third quarter of the 17th century; this would suggest that our painting is amongst the first of this type painted in the Rajput state. Two other Gauda Malhara raginis, dated to the first half of the 17th century and to mid-18th century are published in Ernst and Rose Leonore Waldschmidt, Miniatures of Musical Inspiration, II, Berlin, 1975, fig.137 and fig.138, p.383-384. Another in the Madhuri Desai Collection, dated circa 1660, identified as Bangala Ragini, is published in Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray, Indian Painting, Geneva, 1978, p.142 and a fourth is in the National Museum, Delhi (catalogued as 18th century; Claus Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Basel, 1973, C.21, pp.66-67). Whilst Waldschmidt suggests that the iconography of Gauda Malhara is usually associated with heavy clouds coming up in the skys, Ebeling notes that it is generally very fluid (Ebeling, op.cit., p.86).
A closely related painting of Gauda Malhara painting was in the Francoise and Claude Bourelier Collection which sold at Artcurial, Paris, 4 November 2014, lot 253. Although catalogued as mid-18th century it was re-attributed later as circa 1660-70.