Kamod Ragini
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1670-1690
name: label: Artist
content: Attributed to the Sirohi Master (active ca. 1670-1690)
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Sirohi school
label: Inscriptions
content: Recto: in devanagari script: kamod ragini 28
label: Inscriptions
content: Recto: in devanagari script: kamod ragini 28
label: Label
content: The character of court painting in Rajasthan owes as much to local, non-imperial styles as it does to the Mughal court. This is brilliantly demonstrated in the Sirohi ragamalas that were produced around 1690 in southwest Rajasthan for non-court patrons. This exuberant and luminous Kamod Ragini is from the first and finest of the sets.
label: Label
content: In a hilly landscape, two women bring offerings to a shrine, one of whom pauses to feed two peacocks. An orange-tinged sky suggests early evening, the time of day in which Kamod is traditionally performed. The composition and palette are precisely calculated: The playful rectangles evoking architectural forms in the lower registers, the red window set squarely into the middle of a yellow hillside, and the peacock tail, banana leaf and temple spire that jut beyond the borders are signs of a master of abstraction.
label: Label
content: The style is rooted in pre-Mughal tradition, particularly its bold use of red, strong color contrasts, the modulating contour line that conveys the weight of bodies, and the squarish heads of the women.
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 1967
label: Provenance
content: Kumar Sangram Singh, Thakur of Nawalgarh [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1967 to 2001
label: Provenance
content: Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), purchased from Kumar Sangram Singh in December 1967 [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: [1] It is well known in the field of Indian art history that Kumar Sangram Singh, Thakur of Nawalgarh, had the entire manuscript in the 1960s; prominent art historians viewed it in his Jaipur residence.
label: Provenance
content: [2] According Catherine Glynn Benkaim, it was purchased December 1967 from Kumar Sangram Singh, Jaipur, who had the whole manuscript.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ralph and Catherine Benkaim
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Kumar Sangram Singh
place: label: Origin
content: Sirohi, Rajasthan state, India
topic: label: Topic
content: peacock
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: ragamala
label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: twilight
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: S2018.1.55
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Opaque watercolor on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 23.5 × 17.8 cm (9 1/4 × 7 in)