Rare Paintings
 18 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Drawing. Two lovers listening to music played by women. Drawn on paper. Nala and Damayanti (?).

18th century
Pahari Style (Pahari School)

This term refers to paintings created in the small Rajput courts of the Punjab Hills. While the Pahari region was occupied from the 7th century onwards,... Read More
 17 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
A shaykh and companions listen to music at night. (c.1645)
La'lchand (artist, attributed)

Watercolour and gilt on paper

An album of 41 Indian paintings, chiefly from the Shahjahan period (1628-1658), expressive of the Mughal lineage of Shahjahan; with 37 calligraphic specimens by Mīr Alī-a... Read More
 17 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Album leaf. Devotion. Music. Woman visiting hermit playing vina with attendant and dog.
On paper.

18th century
Mughal style

© Trustees of the British Museum Read More
 16 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
The Ragas in Ragamala

Six are male (parent) ragas; the thirty raginis are their wives and the remaining forty-eight are their sons. These are listed is as follows:

(1) Parent Raga: Bhairav raga
Wives: Bhairavi, Bilawali, Punyaki, Bangli, Aslekhi. Sons: Pancham, Harakh, Disakh, Bangal, Madh... Read More
 16 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
RAGAMALA Paintings are a series of illustrative paintings from medieval India based on Ragamala or the 'Garland of Ragas', depicting various Indian musical modes, Ragas. They stand as a classical example of the amalgamation of art, poetry and classical music in medieval India.

Ragamala paintin... Read More
 16 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
A leaf with two Ragamala Illustrations: ASAVARI RAGINI AND MEGHA (?) RAGINI, India, Deccan, Hyderabad, circa 1760

Gouache heightened with gold on paper, a double-sided leaf, each page with text above the miniature in red and black nast’aliq script on cream paper, red borders, recto numbered in l... Read More
 14 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
An illustration from the Harivamsa:
Krishna surrounded by male and female Gopis in the waters of the Yamuna

Krishna is pictured surrounded by two groups of adoring companions, each group wanting to claim him exclusively to themselves, as they gambol in the waters of the Yamuna. On the left ar... Read More
 14 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
An illustration from the Harivamsa:
Krishna and his companions are joined by the Gods as they celebrate on the banks of Yamuna

This illustration from the Krishnalila highlights Krishna's divinity and his status as a supranormal being within the epic stories. Here, as Krishna and his companion... Read More
 14 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
An illustration from the Harivamsa:
Krishna frolicking with the Gopis in the Yamuna

Krishna is seen engaged in water-sports with his companions and gopis in the Yamuna. Each of his companions is pictured with his consort - Arjuna with Subhadra, Balarama with Revati, Pradyumna with Rati - but ... Read More
 13 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Five Hindu sects: Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu, Brahma and the Mother Goddess - 1774

Gentil; Manuscripts, Col J B J Gentil, Faizabad, ca. 1774. Page number 38 (Gentil numbered two successive pages '22'). Five Hindu cults.

Copyright: © V&A Images. Read More
 13 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
The celebration of Hindu festivals, including Dasehra, Diwali and Holi - 1774

Gentil; Manuscripts, Col J B J Gentil, Faizabad, ca. 1774. Page number 42 (Gentil numbered two successive pages '22'). The celebration of Hindu festivals.

Copyright: © V&A Images Read More
 12 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Rites and Beliefs of the Hindus - 1774

Gentil; Manuscripts, Col J B J Gentil, Faizabad, ca. 1774. Page number 41 (Gentil numbered two successive pages '22'). Hindu customs for various phases of life.

Hindu customs for the various phases of life; birth, naming-ceremony, child receiving inst... Read More
 10 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Kannauj on the River Ganges -1804

Plate 12 from the fourth set of Thomas and William Daniell's 'Oriental Scenery,' which they called 'Twenty-four Landscapes.' The views progress northwards from the far south at Cape Comorin to Srinagar in Garhwal in the Himalaya mountains. Kannauj was an impor... Read More
 8 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Buddha torso engraved with the Realms of Existence
550-618; rubbing; 20th century
Northern Qi or Sui dynasty
Ink on paper
H: 105.5 W: 19.4 cm
China

According to the sacred text of the Lotus Sutra, when the historical Buddha delivered a sermon a vision of the entire cosmos often appeared ... Read More
 5 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Gouache painting on paper from a portfolio of sixty-three paintings of deities and daily life. Ten vignettes of Shaiva ascetics performing penance in two rows of five.

ca. 1820
Company School

Row 1
a) A standing ascetic naked but for a minute loin-cloth, performing panchagni tapas, i.e. '... Read More
 4 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
An Interview between the royal emissary Mir Muizzu'l Mulk and the rebel Bahadur Khan. Painting from the Akbarnama, ca. 1590-1595.

Marks and inscriptions:
amal Farrukh Beg Work of Farrokh Beg

The Akbarnama was commissioned by the emperor Akbar as the official chronicle of his reign in 1589 ... Read More
 3 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Akbar's triumphant entry into Surat. Painting from Akbarnama, ca.1590-1595

Composed and painted by Farrukh Beg.

This illustration to the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar) depicts the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) riding on a black horse through Surat in western India after taking the city in 1... Read More
 3 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
An aged mulla by Farrokh Beg, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Mughal, ca. 1615

An elderly man with a long white beard is depicted standing in front of a tree, with other flowering plants around him. The margins of this page from an album are filled with flowering plants outlined in gold.... Read More
 3 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Farrukh Beg
Born in Iran ca.1545, active 1580-1615, at the Mughal courts in Kabul, Lahore, Agra and the Sultanate of Bijapur, died in Agra in ca.1619. Read More
 3 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
"MINERVA. SCHOOL OF KESU DAS, MUGHAL INDIA, LATE 16TH CENTURY. Gouache heightened with gold on paper, the European-style Minerva stands contraposto, one hand resting on her gorgon-headed shield, the other holding a spear, within a landscape, slightly trimmed, blue, gold, orange, green and white m... Read More
 3 Apr 2013 Rare Paintings
Keshav Das

Akbar with falcon receiving Itimam Khan, while below a poor petitioner (self-portrait of the painter Keshav Das as an old man) is driven away by a royal guard: page from the Jahangir Album

Mughal court at Lahore, dated 1589 Inscribed: signed and dated by Kesu Das, and scribal annot... Read More