The artist Ruknuddin has combined creatively a number of ragamala texts to make this evocative masterpiece. Following artistic precedent and the texts, he shows an ascetic “in penance, adorned, gray [with ashes]” listening to a disciple, who is described as “a young man beauteous in every limb,” playing the rudra vina. Another ragamala text tells us the disciple is “an ascetic, whose mind is drowned in meditation on Shiva . . . crowned by the white moon.”
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Artwork Details
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Title:Kedar Ragini: Folio from a ragamala series (Garland of Musical Modes)
Artist:Ruknuddin (active late 17th century)
Date:ca. 1690–95
Culture:India (Bikaner, Rajasthan)
Medium:Opaque watercolor and ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 6 in. × 4 11/16 in. (15.2 × 11.9 cm) Sheet: 10 1/8 × 7 1/4 in. (25.7 × 18.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Findlay, 1978
Object Number:1978.540.2
Signature: Signed and dated on the reverse
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Findlay , New York (until 1978; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections for the Opening of The Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries," 1994.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Indian Paintings," 1994–95.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ragamala Paintings," 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Indian Court Painting: 16th–19th Century," March 25–July 6, 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ragamala Paintings," 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Indian Court Painting," 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ragamala Paintings," 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painting in Rajasthan, 1650–1850," February 15–July 3, 2005.
New York. Rubin Museum of Art. "Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas," February 11, 2006–September 3, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painting in Rajasthan," 2007.
Zurich,. Museum Rietberg. "1100–1900: The 40 Greatest Masters of Indian Painting," May 1, 2011–August 21, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India, 1100–1900," September 26, 2011–January 8, 2012.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Hindu Court Painting," July 17–September 8, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ragamala: Picturing Sound," Jun-14-Dec-10-2014.
Kossak, Steven. "The Arts of South and Southeast Asia." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. n.s., Vol. 51, no. 4 (spring 1994), pp. 57–58, fig. 51.
Linrothe, Rob, ed. Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas. Exh. cat. New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2006, pp. 396–97, cat. no. 91.
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