India. Opaque pigments and gold on paper. Intricately painted with a lady playing the tanpura in a meadow with peacocks and peahens near a young tree in a green landscape with rolling hills, the background with several buildings backed by forests under the pink cloudy sky.

Provenance: His Exalted Highness, the Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan (1886-1967), personally gifted to Dr. Mallanah Shrinagesh, Hyderabad, India. Thence by descent to Dr. Shrinagesh’s daughter Shakuntala Hartog (1924-2006). Thence by descent to her widower Rudolf Hartog (1924-2018). Thence by descent in the family to the last owner. The back inscribed ‘Kakubaragini – (Deccani - 1780)’. Dr. Mallanah Shrinagesh was the personal physician to H.E.H. Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, the last Nizam of the Princely State of Hyderabad, the largest state in the British Indian Empire, who reigned from 1911 to 1948. The paintings were a personal gift by the Nizam to Shrinagesh, given during the 1930s as compensation for his work. They decorated the walls of the doctor’s apartment in the court at Hyderabad. His daughter Shakuntala inherited the pieces and brought them with her when she moved with her husband Rudolf Hartog to Germany. Shakuntala and Rudolf Hartog both wrote several books about India, published in Germany.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and light soiling. The frame with wear, minor chips to edges, light flaking.

Dimensions: Image size 24 x 16 cm, Size incl. frame 38 x 30.5 cm

Firmly mounted on cardboard. Matted and framed behind glass. (2)

In Indian classical music, various melodies, known as ragas, are associated with different seasons, times of day, and moods. In miniature painting, it is common to depict these ragas in human form. The six main ragas are represented as male deities, each accompanied by wives (raginis) and sons.

Kakubha, associated with the main Raga Megha, embodies beauty and splendor. In this composition, the heroine appears lonesome, deserted by her lover. She wanders through a natural landscape near a forest, connecting with peacocks and hoping for her lover to return.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related painting of a Kakubha Ragini, 19^th century, Deccan, in the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad. Compare a closely related Pahari School painting from a Ragamala series, 18^th-19^th century, in the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, Budapest, accession number 59.77.1. Compare a related miniature of Sorathi Ragini, dated circa 1750, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.85.290.4, where the curator's notes state that Sorathi's "personification is similar to Kakubha Ragini" and the "chief iconographic distinction between the two melodies is that Sorathi Ragini is depicted standing or walking rather than sitting on a hillock or peak".