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

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

Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin

(from 2nd Feb until 22nd Apr 2012)

Explore the remarkable collection of Indian paintings and drawings of the artist Howard Hodgkin.

Detail of Maharaja Dhiraj Singh riding, Raghugarh, India, c.1700 (Museum No: LI118.34)
A lady offers milk to a snake, illustrating the musical mode Ramakali Raginifront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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A lady offers milk to a snake, illustrating the musical mode Ramakali Ragini

  • loan

  • Description

    The musical mode Ramakali is depicted as a lady offering a cup of milk to a snake which has coiled itself around a tree. Snakes are both feared and revered in India, and local snake (naga) cults are widespread. Often their propitiatory rites include offerings of milk. Here the noble lady pays her respects to the resident naga while seated comfortably on a carpet beside a stream.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Garland of Ragas
    Associated place
    Asia › India › north-west India › Jammu and Kashmir › Kathua district › Basohli (place of creation)
    Date
    1690 - 1695
    Material and technique
    gouache with gold on paper
    Dimensions
    frame 30 x 30 x 2.5 cm (height x width x depth)
    page 19.5 x 19.2 cm (height x width)
    painting 16.5 x 16 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    covered › coated › painted,
    marked › painted,
    decorated › painted,
    painted
    Object type index
    visual representation › painting › ragamala
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Lent by Howard Hodgkin.
    Accession no.
    LI118.105

  • Further reading

    Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2nd February-22nd April 2012, Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, Andrew Topsfield, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012), no. 58 on p. 140, pp. 18 & 19, illus. p. 141

Glossary

Ragini

  • 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.

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • Returned to lender

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. 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 please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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