AURANGABAD, DECCAN, INDIA, DATED AH [1]125/1713-14 AD

Details

KHAMBAVATI RAGINI
AURANGABAD, DECCAN, INDIA, DATED AH [1]125⁄1713-14 AD
An illustration to a Ragamala series, opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, set within floral borders with gold and polychrome rules, laid down on illuminated card margins, the verso plain
Painting 9 ¾ x 5 3⁄8in. (24.6 x 15cm.); folio 15 3⁄8 x 11 5⁄8in. (39 x 29.5cm.)

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Lot Essay

A young woman reverently making a fire-sacrifice to the four-headed Lord Brahma is the subject of the Khambavati Ragini, named after the city of Khambhat in Western India. Two Ragamala folios, Todi Ragini and Kakubha Ragini, currently on loan [and a promised gift to the Kronos Collection] to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, are also attributed to Aurangabad and share with the present lot a similar approach to painting vegetation and the distinctive treatment of clouds (inv. L.2018.44.4 and L.2018.44.5). An unusual feature of our painting is the faint date painted on the wall behind the figures, which enables the whole series to be dated.

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