INDIA, RAJASTHAN, KOTAH, CIRCA 1770

An ascetic sits by a gold brazier, while his female attendant approaches him with a long white shawl. The dramatic orange sky and array of of pan and fruit indicate it is dawn, the ascetic having his morning meal after prayers. The present painting comes from the so-called “Boston” ragamala series, named for the fact that fifteen folios from the series are held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The series can be considered amongst the finest examples of painting from Kotah, each painting meticulously rendered, dramatically composed and wondrously colored. The styles and quality of each painting are remarkably consistent, leading most scholars to conclude that all eighty-four folios were painted by the same master hand. The series deviates ichnographically from many standard ragamala compositions, but the artist can be lauded for immersing each painting in the atmospheric mood of each raga. Dipak Ragas, like in the present example, often center themself on themes of light and fire and evoke moods of intimacy. In this case, the ragamala is encouraging a solemn, spiritual intimacy.
Fifteen pages from this widely dispersed series of eighty-four paintings are held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc. nos. 66.164, 67.793-804 and 2019.717-718). Other paintings from this series are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of art (acc. nos. 1978.540.4, 2000.244, and 1978.534.2), Denver Art Museum (acc. no. 1981.352), Cleveland Museum of Art (acc. no. 2018.179), Rietberg Museum (raga hindol), Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (acc. no. B75D8), and Art Gallery of New South Wales (acc no. 82.1997). Another page from this series, previously in the collections of Paul F. Walter and Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck sold at Sotheby’s New York, 22 March 2002, lot 23.