An illustration to a Ragamala series in the style of Nasiruddin: Nat ragini: a mistress receiving a prince arriving on horseback, who greets him as he kneels at her feet in a pavilion with a bed-chamber prepared, a female attendant to the right with a groom and the prince's horse in the foreground Mewar, circa 1610
£18,000 - £24,000
Looking for a similar item?
Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAn illustration to a Ragamala series in the style of Nasiruddin: Nat ragini: a mistress receiving a prince arriving on horseback, who greets him as he kneels at her feet in a pavilion with a bed-chamber prepared, a female attendant to the right with a groom and the prince's horse in the foreground
Mewar, circa 1610
Mewar, circa 1610
210 x 175 mm.
Footnotes
From a Ragamala series closely connected to the 'Chawand' Ragamala series painted by the Muslim artist Nasiruddin at the village of Chauda (Chawand), the temporary capital of the Mewar ranas following the sacking in 1568 by Akbar's Mughal army of the major Mewar city Chittor. It is the earliest known Ragamala series from Mewar, and Manu ragini, in the Kanoria Collection, Calcutta, bears the colophon with the name of Nasiruddin and the date Samvat 1662/1605 A.D. These sets of ragamalas are examples of a period that links the earlier, less precise Rajput style of the sixteenth century with the flourishing seventeenth century painting of the Mewar studio which was influenced by the Mughal courts but was an important school of Indian painting with its own distinctive Rajasthani style.
For further discussion and comparisons see:
G.K. Kanoria, 'An Early Dated Rajasthani Ragamala', Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, Vol.XIX, Calcutta 1952-53.
D. Barrett & B.Gray, Painting of India, New York 1963, p. 132.
W. G. Archer & E. Binney, Rajput Miniatures from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd., Portland 1968, no. 2.
K. Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Basel 1973, p. 159.
A. Topsfield, Paintings from the Rajput Courts, Indar Pasricha Fine Arts Exhibition Catalogue, London 1986, no. 1.
L. York Leach, Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art Part One, Cleveland 1986, no. 89.
S. Kosak, Indian Court Painting: 16th-19th Century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1997, No. 14, p. 42.