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VARIOUS PROPERTIES<br />
61<br />
AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES : BHASKAR PUTRA<br />
<strong>OF</strong> HINDOL RAGA<br />
CHAMBA, NORTH <strong>INDIA</strong>, CIRCA 1700<br />
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the prince raises his hand<br />
towards the sun, holding green twigs, a lady draws milk from a cow, the cow<br />
and her calf tethered to a post, under trees, on yellow background with shining<br />
sun at top, with red borders and white and black rules, the reverse inscribed in<br />
devanagari and takri scripts<br />
8Ω x 6ºin. (21.7 x 15.8cm.)<br />
£12,000-15,000 $18,000-21,000<br />
€15,000-19,000<br />
PROVENANCE:<br />
Royal Mandi Collection (No 2463).<br />
Ragamala or the ‘Garland of Ragas’ is the visual depiction of musical modes.<br />
Each Raga belongs to a family : Bhairav, dedicated to Shiva ; Malkos, Hindol,<br />
Megh, Deepak and Sri. Ragamala paintings are bringing together poetry and<br />
classical music. Each raga’s essence is captured and symbolised by a hero or<br />
heroine, a colour or a scene, and thus a mood, and has subsets, identifed as<br />
family members such as the raginis, or wives of the ragas. They thus identify<br />
at what time of the year or of the day the musical mode must be played and<br />
the deity they are dedicated to.<br />
62<br />
AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES: HINDOL RAGA<br />
CHAMBA, NORTH <strong>INDIA</strong>, CIRCA 1700<br />
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, a prince sits on a large<br />
swing, leaning against a bolster, he holds a rosary whilst attended by ladies,<br />
a marble pavilion behind, the top of cypress trees appearing behind the wall,<br />
with red borders and black and white rules, the reverse with identifcation<br />
inscription in black devanagari and takri scripts, mounted<br />
8Ω x 6ºin. (21.6 x 16cm.)<br />
£10,000-12,000 $15,000-17,000<br />
€13,000-15,000<br />
PROVENANCE:<br />
Royal Mandi Collection (No 2463).<br />
Hindol Raga is an early morning mode assigned to Spring.<br />
This painting and the preceding lot (lot 61) are part of a Ragamala series<br />
that was once attributed to the Pahari court of Bilaspur. However, Catherine<br />
Glynn in a new study of other illustrations from this same series has<br />
re-attributed them to the court of Chamba (Glynn, C., Skelton R. and<br />
Dallapicolla AL., Ragamala, Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli<br />
Collection, cat. 14 and 15, Dulwich Pictures Gallery Catalogue, London<br />
2011 p.34). Both paintings bear a stamp on the verso from the Royal Mandi<br />
Collection. This Ragamala series was apparently rebound there in 1841. Three<br />
further folios from the same series are in the Claudio Moscatelli Collection<br />
(op.cit., nos. 7, 8 and 9, pp. 52-57). Nine further paintings from the series,<br />
attributed then to Bilaspur, were sold at Sotheby’s New York, 29 March<br />
2006, lots 164-173.<br />
For another illustration from the same ragalama series, see the preceding lot.<br />
40<br />
Opposite: Lot 64 (detail)