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Shri Raga, from a Ragamala

c. 1695

Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: Image: 34.4 x 22.5 cm (13 9/16 x 8 7/8 in.); Overall: 38 x 25 cm (14 15/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Mewar
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Edward L. Whittemore Fund
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

About this work

This painting is from an important series made at a turning point in the history of court painting at the Rajput kingdom of Mewar. For the first time, a royal patron, Amar Singh II (r. 1698–1710), even before his accession to the throne, decided to incorporate Mughal elements into secular art, as seen in the white domed architecture and interest in conveying some sense of spatial depth. Nevertheless, the artist still adheres to the use of horizontal registers and bold planes of color. The codified iconography of Shri Raga involves a royal couple listening to recitations. Shri Raga is described as: "Splendidly enthroned of peerless beauty and lovely as the autumn moon, he sits hearing stories from Narada and Tumburu. By the great sages he is called Shri Raga King." Amar Singh has playfully substituted his own portrait for that of the generic king, and a woman for that of the sage. In music, Shri Raga is associated with the season of autumn and the harvest festivals, here evoked by the dancing female musicians in the lower register.