Untitled

Unknown

1630–40 · Ink and opaque watercolor on paper · Asian Art

The Dipak Raga is associated with night and is meant to evoke the mood of intimacy between lovers. Legend has it that one of Emperor Akbar’s musicians started a palace fire after being forced to play this raga against his better judgment. Typically, depictions of this raga incorporate fire imagery of some sort; here, it takes the form of a pair of women holding lamps. No illusionistic space is shown and the figures are juxtaposed within a mapped architectural space as is typical of Malwa painting from the first half of the seventeenth century.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1630–40

Medium

Ink and opaque watercolor on paper

Culture

India (Madhya Pradesh, Ragugar?)

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of John and Evelyn Kossak, The Kronos Collections, 1982