AN ILLUSTRATION TO A SRI RAGA SERIES
Deccan, Central India, late 18th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting a white-clad prince wearing a floral garland around his neck and seated against a large colourful bolster in a large outdoor pavilion, listening to a female musician or kinnara playing the sitar and to an animal-headed storyteller, possibly the god-sage Narada Muni, playing brass chimes, two male attendants standing behind him, one whisking a peacock feather fan and the other holding another flower garland, oval trays with fresh fruits and drinks laid between the prince and his guests, the palace featuring a pond with red fishes and a fountain, the scene set within black and white rules, followed by grey and bright red borders, the recto marked with a black ink Devanagari inscription reading Sri Rag, and a black ink Urdu inscription with a pencil transliteration in English characters underneath, 28.8cm x 19.5cm.