Page 115 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

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An illustration from a ragamala series: bangali ragini
Nurpur, circa 1750
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; inscription in takri in upper margin; kneeling beneath a
suspended canopy two musicians face each other, one playing the tambura, the other a damaru.
Image: 7 x 5 3/4 in. (17.7 x 14.7 cm); Folio: 8 5/8 x 7 3/8 in. (22 x 18.7 cm)
$4,000 - 6,000

The arabesque pattern in the carpet here is the same as on the canopy material in a painting entitled
“Raja Fateh Singh of Nurpur entertained by dancing-girls” in the Victoria and Albert Museum and
illustrated in Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, vol. I, London, no. 28, p. 398.

The compositional and technical style of Nurpur painting was greatly influenced by the Rasamanjari
series painted by Golu, son of Devidasa, circa 1720. The present lot is similar to one of these
Rasamanjari paintings: A Lady and Her Confidante, illustrated in Pal, The Flute and the Brush,
Newport Harbor Art Museum, 1976, no. 37. Another leaf from the same ragamala series, karnati
ragini, which also depicts two women musicians kneeling on a carpet, is in the Edwin Binney
Collection, Rajput Miniatures, Portland, 1968, no. 78.

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