Kafi Ragini (painting, recto), from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies) Series

The painting visualizes the Kafi Ragini in the royal female seated within a palatial architecture and her two attendants. One of the attendants plucks flowers from a blossoming tree, while the lady enjoys the smell of the fresh flowers inside the palace chambers. This painting is a pictorial metaphor for a raga, a musical phrase that is used as the basis for improvisation, belonging to a Ragamala or “Garland of Melodies” series. The orange borders and the red and green color fields in the architectural frame of the painting link it to the Ragamala series attributed to the Sirohi court. The composition overall reflects the artists’ knowledge of the late seventeenth-century Malwa court styles. Another folio from the same series is 1995.121. Rajput, Rajasthani, Sirohi School.