Two female musicians, India, Pahari, Kangra, late 18th century

gouache with gold paper, corner spandrels of foliate motifs on white ground, narrow blue borders 

Some surface abrasion and flaking at lower right area. Ink smudge at lower left.
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These two female musicians are absorbed by the rhythmic beat they are producing with their instruments. They appear to be holding wooden claves (janjira), snapping them together to produce a clacking sound like castanets. Related examples can be seen in the hands of a female musicians and dancers in several Mughal paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (see Masselos, Menzies and Pal, Dancing to the Flute, Music and Dance in Indian Art, Sydney, 1997, pp.189, 237, figs. 147, 144; Beach and Koch, King of the World, London, 1997, no.25) and also in the hands of Sultan Ibrahim 'Adil Shah of Bijapur in a well-known painting in the British Museum (see Zebrowski, Deccani Painting, London, 1983, fig.59). A similar instrument is depicted in a Ragamala illustration from Kangra of circa 1825 (see Masselos, Menzies and Pal, op.cit., p.187, fig.191).