Lalit Ragini, folio from a <em>Ragamala</em>
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1605-1610
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: perhaps Marwar school
label: Inscriptions
content: Recto inscription in devanagari script: Praful sapt chad malya dhari … yuva ch gauro salochan sri. vinihi sratra vasre grahat pragyati. vilasivesho lalit pradishtah. Lalit Ragini
label: Inscriptions
content: The hero holds a a garland of seven blooming flowers (saptchad). He is young and fair with beautiful eyes. He leaves the house early morning in a (self-indulgent) state (remnant of the passionate night) and looks extremely beautiful. Lalit Ragini
label: Label
content: A lady sleeps in a bedchamber while her lover, holding a garland in each hand, steals away, glancing back longingly.
label: Label
content: Raga (Sanskrit, color or passion) is the term for a classical music mode, a set framework for improvisation. Having originated in the first millennium, ragas were systematized and classified during the thirteenth through sixteenth century, they were classified into ragamalas, meaning garlands of musical modes. A common system recognized six raga husbands, each "married" to five ragini wives for a total of thirty-six "families." Families of musical modes sometimes included sons or ragaputras as well. By the fifteenth century, ragas had become associated with specific moods, times, seasons, affective properties, deities, lovers, and heroes. Around 1590-1620, illustrated ragamala series became a favorite subject for Rajput patrons, as well as for some Mughals, such as Abd-ur Rahim, patron of the Freer Ramayana and the Laud Ragamala. Specific iconographies were developed for depicting each mode. These formulae lent themselves to variations, which were sometimes dependent on region.
label: Label
content: Illustrated ragas evoke mood and engender feeling, as do musical compositions. But the connection seems to be indirect. Although some connoisseurs of music may have internally "heard" a composition when viewing its image, ragamalas were probably more broadly valued for their poetic and pictorial pleasures. The commission of a ragamala series would also have been understood as a sign of a patron's cultivated sensibility.
label: Provenance
content: To 1969
label: Provenance
content: Sundaram, New Delhi [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1969 to 2001
label: Provenance
content: Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), purchased from Sundaram, New Delhi in November in 1969 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 2001 to 2018
label: Provenance
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001
label: Provenance
content: From 2018
label: Provenance
content: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] According to information from Catherin Glynn Benkaim.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Sundaram (India, active 1960's)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ralph and Catherine Benkaim
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
place: label: Origin
content: perhaps Marwar, Rajasthan state, India
topic: label: Topic
content: flower
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: man
label: Topic
content: ragamala
label: Topic
content: pavilion
label: Topic
content: garden
label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
setName: label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: S2018.1.48
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (painting): 17.2 × 12.4 cm (6 3/4 × 4 7/8 in)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 21.3 × 15 cm (8 3/8 × 5 15/16 in)