Madha-madhavi Ragini
Artist/Culture
Central Indian
Artist/Culture
Malwa
Dateabout 1660
Mediumwatercolor on paper
Dimensions21.4 x 17.1 cm (8 7/16 x 6 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsNon-Western Miniatures
Credit LineGift of Alexander H. Bullock
Object number1954.24
Label TextMadhu Madhavi is illustrated here as an abhisarika nayika, a woman who goes out through danger to meet her lover. Accompanied by her attendant, who will serve, if need be, as a go-between, she makes her way through a nighttime storm. Rain pours down, lighting flashes, and a peacock screams. Startled, she reaches up to stop the bird’s cry.
Amidst the conventions of early Malwa painting-the flatness of the scarlet chamber, the sage green vestibule and black night, and the pictorial compartmentalization- the artist has placed some delightful touches: one peacock dancing in mid-air; the lady caught by the other bird’s scream; the lover facing away, oblivious to it all; and the oversized, ornamental flowers rising in the night.
ProvenanceAlexander H. Bullock, Worcester MAOn View
Not on view
