AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES: THE GUJARI RAGINI
Malwa, Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Central India, 18th century

Opaque pigments and ink heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition illustrating a typical scene associated with the Gujari Ragini, the first wife of the Megha Raga, a morning melody played during the Monsoon season, representing the sorrow of lovers' separation, the scene portraying a lady playing her vina in an empty courtyard, being approached by a male peacock with fully open tail, perhaps symbolising her distant lover, behind her an empty pavilion in a palatial setting emphasising her solitude and loneliness, at the top a single line of black ink Devanagari script reading Gunja Ragini against an ochre yellow ground, the reverse plain, mounted on a white card panel, the illustration 22.7cm x 15cm, 31cm x 22cm including the mount.