AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: THE VIBHASA RAGINI
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE GERMAN COLLECTION
Bundi School, Rajasthan, North-Western India, late 17th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical painting portraying the typical composition of the Vibhasa Ragini, the fourth wife of the Megha Raga, a musical mode mostly sung or played in the Monsoon season late at night, depicting a loving couple sitting on a raised bed inside a palatial compound, the male protagonist holding a bow and arrow, showing his prowess to his female companion, a peacock standing on the pavilion's roof, a crescent moon in the sky indicating the time of the day, 5ll. of black ink Devanagari script within an ochre yellow rectangular cartouche at the top, the scene set within black and white rules and several concentric borders, including yellow, dark green and bright red, mounted, glazed and framed, 33cm x 23cm including the frame.

For a very similar composition dating ca. 1680 and also ascribed to the Bundi school, please see the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Collection (inv. no. S2018.1.31).