Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Lovers at dawn, illustrating the musical mode Raga Vibhasafront

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Lovers at dawn, illustrating the musical mode Raga Vibhasa

  • Description

    The musical mode Vibhasa (‘radiance’) is normally performed at dawn. It is conceived pictorially as a noble couple who have passed the night together. Often, as the lady sleeps, her lover may aim his bow to shoot the crowing cock. But here he holds a flower bow and arrow like the love-god Kama, and the peacock is unthreatened. Ragamala painting became a highly popular genre in the Mughal period.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Garland of Ragas
    Associated place
    Asia › India › Deccan › north Deccan (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1675
    Material and technique
    gouache on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 55.6 x 40.5 cm (height x width)
    page 26.5 x 22 cm (height x width)
    painting 19.7 x 15 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper,
    processed material › metal › gold
    Technique index
    decorated › painted,
    painted,
    covered › coated › painted,
    marked › painted
    Object type index
    visual representation › painting › ragamala
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased, 1991.
    Accession no.
    EA1991.154

  • Further reading

    Topsfield, A., ‘A Dispersed Ragamala from the Deccan’, Naval Krishna and Manu Krishna, eds, The Ananda-vana of Indian Art: Dr Anand Krishna Felicitation Volume (Varanasi: Indica Books, 2004), pp. 321 & 326, pls 1 & 2

    Topsfield, Andrew, Indian Paintings from Oxford Collections, Ashmolean Handbooks (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum in association with the Bodleian Library, 1994), no. 20 on p. 46, illus. p. 47

    Michell, George, and Mark Zebrowski, Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates, New Cambridge History of India, 1: The Mughals and their Contemporaries, 7 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 158, fig. 118

Glossary (2)

Raga, Ragamala

  • Raga

    Raga (feminine ragini) are musical modes, often represented by compositions of ladies, lovers, warriors, animals or gods, in series of Ragamala ('Garland of Ragas') paintings, a very popular artistic genre in north India and the Deccan c. 1500 - 1800.

  • Ragamala

    Raga (feminine ragini) are musical modes, often represented by compositions of ladies, lovers, warriors, animals or gods, in series of Ragamala ('Garland of Ragas') paintings, a very popular artistic genre in north India and the Deccan c. 1500 - 1800.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

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