Property from the collection of Tom Maschler
AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES: KANHRA (KANADA) RAGINI, INDIA, MUGHAL, 18TH CENTURY
Lot Closed
May 18, 01:36 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from the collection of Tom Maschler
AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES: KANHRA (KANADA) RAGINI, INDIA, MUGHAL, 18TH CENTURY
gouache with gold on paper, mounted on an album page with gold-flecked borders of blue and salmon-pink paper, reverse with inscriptions in ink in Persian 'Kanhra' '22' and in Devanagari 'Kanhra' and '22', and in English in pencil 'Kanada'
painting: 21.8 by 16cm.
leaf: 31.2 by 23.5cm.
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The description of Kanhra/Kanada Ragini given by Ebeling is as follows:
"The name implies that this raga came from the South. The painting implies that it one was an elephant hunter's song to honor the slayer of the elephant. The painter ... equates the courage to slay the elephant with Lord Krishna as well as with a victorious king..." (K. Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Basel: Ravi Kumar, 1973, p.82, no.C29).
Here the main elements are present: the seated Lord Krishna and the slain elephant, all presented in the visual context of a late Mughal scene of a ruler on a terrace. For a related depiction of this raga see T. Falk and M. Archer, Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, Sotheby's, London, 1981, p.454, no.349xxiii.