Untitled

Unknown

ca. 1680 · Ink and opaque watercolor on paper · Asian Art

The Vilaval ragaini is to be performed in the morning, as suggested by the sun rising in a dark sky. In poetry this raga is described as a lady preparing to meet her lover, and here she is shown looking in a mirror and fixing her earrings. The pavilion is represented without depth and great emphasis is given to surface patterning. The orange borders and the red and green color fields in the architectural frame link the work to an exquisite ragamala series attributed to the Sirohi court. The overall composition may be compared to late seventeenth-century Malwa court styles, with which the artist of this series likely had contact.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1680

Medium

Ink and opaque watercolor on paper

Culture

India (Rajasthan, Sirohi)

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 1985