This painting is from a dispersed album that was once in the Mandi royal collection. Most of the paintings are of typical Hindu/Rajput subjects such as avatars of Vishnu and other deities, as well as Ragas, Raginis and Ragaputras belonging to the Pahari system of musical modes. Though clearly the product of a single studio in the Punjab Hills, they are nonetheless probably the work of artists trained in more than one tradition.

The style of painting dates from the beginning of the eighteenth century and would appear to be closest in style to Bilaspur painting, which was one of the few Pahari states to produce vertical Ragamalas at this date. There are a group of unpublished Bilaspur Ragamala paintings once in the Latifi collection that bear some relationship to ours despite being more stylized and of a later date (circa 1740). There is also strong influence from Mankot, particularly visible in the treatment of the trees, furniture and textiles (see Archer, W.G. 'Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills', Mankot nos 24,25 & 27) as well as in the Mughal-style refinement that occasionally appears in early Mankot painting (see Lerner, M.'The Flame and the Lotus - Indian and Southeast Asian Art from the Kronos Collections, 1984, no 63, pp166-168). The most surprising element in these paintings is the influence of Deccani painting, evident in the striking but cool palette of lilac, mauve and turquoise, compositional ingenuity and strong element of fantasy.

Inscriptions on reverse:
No 91 (3517)
Takri 1 = // ? // raga mishtanga // 2 // mal //
Takri 2 = raga mistanga
Devanagri= raga mistanga malkoshoda putra

According to Waldschmidt, Mistanga is the 24th in the set and is the 4th putra of Malakaushika

Provenance

German private collection
Mandi royal collection