Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Room 33 | Mughal India 1500-1900 gallery

Discover the paintings and decorative arts of the Mughal period - the most powerful and lasting of the Islamic dynasties in India.

Mughal India gallery

Galleries : 132 objects

A hero greeted by princes, illustrating the musical mode Kanada Raginifront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

  • A hero greeted by princes, illustrating the musical mode Kanada Ragini (back)
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A hero greeted by princes, illustrating the musical mode Kanada Ragini

  • Description

    The musical mode Kanada is visualized in poetry and painting as a princely warrior in the form of the god Krishna, who has shown his valour by slaying an elephant. This painting belongs to a Ragamala (‘Garland of Ragas’) series painted for Maharaja Anup Singh of Bikaner, who spent much of his career serving with the Mughal forces in the Deccan.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Garland of Ragas
    Associated place
    Asia › India › west India › Rajasthan › Bikaner (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1680
    Artist/maker
    Ruknuddin (active 1650 - 1700) (artist)
    Associated people
    Anup Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner (ruled 1669 - 1698) (commissioner)
    possibly Anup Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner (ruled 1669 - 1698) (subject)
    Material and technique
    gouache with gold on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 55.9 x 40.6 cm (height x width)
    page 26.5 x 19.5 cm (height x width)
    painting 16.2 x 13 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper,
    processed material › metal › gold
    Technique index
    decorated › painted,
    painted,
    covered › coated › painted,
    marked › painted
    Object type index
    visual representation › painting › ragamala
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of the Ashmolean, 1990.
    Accession no.
    EA1990.6

  • Further reading

    Topsfield, Andrew, Indian Paintings from Oxford Collections, Ashmolean Handbooks (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum in association with the Bodleian Library, 1994), no. 19 on p. 44, illus. p. 45

    Falk, Toby, and Brendan Lynch, Images of India (London: Indar Pasricha Fine Arts, 1989), No.28

    Krishna, Naval, ‘The Umarani Usta Master-Painters of Bikaner and their Genealogy’, Andrew Topsfield, ed., Court Painting in Rajasthan (Mumbai: Marg Publications on behalf of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, 2000), p. 59, illus. p. 59 fig. 2

Glossary (2)

Ragamala, Ragini

  • Ragamala

    Raga (feminine ragini) are musical modes, often represented by compositions of ladies, lovers, warriors, animals or gods, in series of Ragamala ('Garland of Ragas') paintings, a very popular artistic genre in north India and the Deccan c. 1500 - 1800.

  • Ragini

    Raga (feminine ragini) are musical modes, often represented by compositions of ladies, lovers, warriors, animals or gods, in series of Ragamala ('Garland of Ragas') paintings, a very popular artistic genre in north India and the Deccan c. 1500 - 1800.

Location

    • currently in research collection

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Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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