Shri Raga, from the Chawand Ragamala

Object Details

• Artist

  Nasiruddin

• Court

  Mewar Court

• School/Tradition

  Rajput School

• Description

  The lord wearing a red turban and white four-pointed jama, holding a flower in one hand while attending to a Saivite musician with a vina who kneels before him, and his companion behind him with a pair of hand-cymbals. Another attendant waves a cauri above the lord. Shoes and utensils are in the foreground. A tasseled canopy appears in the center of the red-walled chamber; a cupola and turrets rise against a starry sky. The border is pale yellow with a red rule and, at the top, bears the inscription. This is a page of a set of 42.

• Inscriptions

  vicitra sihāsana madhya varttā kaṃtā pavitrābhiḍa[?] tīti

  śubhraṃ

  kurvanu kathā nārada-tubarābhyāṃ

  śrī rāga rāja kathitā munaṅdrai

  śrī rāga pūraṣa rāga 35

  Splendidly enthroned, of peerless beauty and lovely as

  the autumn moon, he sits hearing stories from Narada

  and Tumbaru. By the great sages he is called Sriraga King.

  [raga 35]

  The Sanskrit is corrupt and the meaning is inconclusive;

  the modified translation is given in Ebeling, Klaus.

  the modified translation is given in Ebeling, Klaus.

• Provenance

  To 1971

  Doris Wiener Gallery, New York [1]

  From 1971 to 1991

  Carter Burden, New York purchased from Doris Wiener Gallery, New York in 1971 [2]

  1991

  Sale, New York, Sotheby’s, The Carter Burden Collection of Indian Paintings, March 27, 1991, lot no. 6: “A Page from the “Chawand” Ragamala. Sri Raga: a Lord Seated on a Throne Listening to Musicians” [3]

  From 1991

  Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC purchased at auction, “The Carter Burden Collection of Indian Paintings,” Sotheby’s, New York, March 27, 1991, lot no. 6, “A Page from the “Chawand” Ragamala. Sri Raga: a Lord Seated on a Throne Listening to Musicians” through Andrew Kahane, Ltd., Oriental Art [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See invoice from Doris Wiener Gallery, Inc., dated November 24, 1971 to Carter Burden, copy in object file, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See Sotheby’s, New York auction catalogue, The Carter Burden Collection of Indian Paintings, from the sale of March 27, 1991.

  [4] See Acquisition Consideration Form, object file, Collections Management Office. See also correspondences with Andrew Kahane, Ltd., Oriental Art in the object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur (November 19, 2022 to May 14, 2023)

  Body Image (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)

  Masterworks of Indian Painting (December 13, 1997 to June 13, 1998)

  South and South East Asian Art (May 9, 1993 to February 7, 2000)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Doris Wiener Gallery

  Carter Burden

  Sotheby's (New York)

• Origin

  Chawand, Rajasthan state, Mewar, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1600s

• Name

  Doris Wiener Gallery, Burden, Carter, Sotheby's (New York)

• Place

  Rajasthan state, Chawand, Mewar, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Sisodia dynasty (861 - 1947), Music, Flowers, Ragamala, Vina

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings